If you don't then that's on you, nearly millions worldwide do, and that's what matters.
I once met Mr Ibu in a Nigerian banking hall, dude was oozing fun from meters away
The way he looks at people, the way he made his way to the teller and the way he responded to greetings left everyone rolling with laughter. He staged an unplanned comedy skit for us all. Dude is so blessed and talented.
The poor and wretched alaba economic migrants ruined the original Nigerian movie industry when they pirated every thing screened in cinemas. That ended the glorious days
Yorubas have claimed what is theres now and we rule all the awards and highest grossing movies.
Everything you guys touch gets rotten. They totally made Nigerian movie industry a mediocre industry with garbage production shot on camcorders. Utter nonsense
Thank you. Most people wouldn't have considered reading theater arts till they saw living in bondage. It was the trigger for the business we call Nollywood today.
"People wouldn't have considered reading theater arts till they saw living in bondage"
Definitely, this statement shows he doesn't know the history of movie industry in Nigeria.
Baba, problem you people have is always claiming to be greatest in everything. its not healthy for making friends and maintaining relationships. Accept we started nollywood and save yourself this headache.
I think we should begin by answering these questions.
1) Were those movies Nollywood movies?
2) Is every movie that is made in Nigeria a Nollywood movie?
3) What is a Nollywood movie?
4) Are Eddie Ugbomah's movies like "The Rise and Fall of Oyenusi" (1979) and "Death of a Black President" (1984) Nollywood movies? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Ugbomah
I think we should begin by answering these questions.
1) Were those movies Nollywood movies?
2) Is every movie that is made in Nigeria a Nollywood movie?
3) What is a Nollywood movie?
4) Are Eddie Ugbomah's movies like "The Rise and Fall of Oyenusi" (1979) and "Death of a Black President" (1984) Nollywood movies? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Ugbomah
Nollywood is all movies produced in Nigeria film industry.
According to Alex Eyengho defined Nollywood as "the totality of activities taking place in the Nigerian film industry, be it in English, Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Itsekiri, Edo, Efik, Ijaw, Urhobo or any other of the over 300 Nigerian languages". He further stated that "the historical trajectory of Nollywood started since the pre and post independent Nigeria, with the theatrical (stage) and cinematic (celluloid) efforts of the likes of Chief Hubert Ogunde, Chief Amata, Baba Sala, Ade Love, Eddie Ugbomah and a few others".
Based on this definition, Living in Bondage can't be considered the pioneer of Nollywood in Nigeria. Gbam.
Nollywood is all movies produced in Nigeria film industry.
According to Alex Eyengho defined Nollywood as "the totality of activities taking place in the Nigerian film industry, be it in English, Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Itsekiri, Edo, Efik, Ijaw, Urhobo or any other of the over 300 Nigerian languages". He further stated that "the historical trajectory of Nollywood started since the pre and post independent Nigeria, with the theatrical (stage) and cinematic (celluloid) efforts of the likes of Chief Hubert Ogunde, Chief Amata, Baba Sala, Ade Love, Eddie Ugbomah and a few others".
Based on this definition, Living in Bondage can't be considered the pioneer of Nollywood in Nigeria. Gbam.
See how you contradicted yourself. You said that Nollywood is all movies produced in the Nigerian film industry, yet you said that Living in Bondage is the pioneer of Nollywood in Nigeria. Living in Bondage was released in 1992! So what would you call "Aiye", Hubert Ogunde's movie that was shot on celluloid in 1979 and shown in cinemas like Kings Cinema, Casino Cinema, etc. In Lagos?
What would you call Eddie Ugbomah's famous movie, "Death of a Black President" that was released in the early 1980s? Chief Ugbomah had to flee Nigeria because of that movie. The movie was about Murtala Muhammed's death, but the Nigerian Army did not give him permission to use military uniforms and equipment, but he did it anyway and he had to escape from Nigeria.
Would you call Dr Ola Balogun's movies, which were shot on celluloid in the 1970s Nollywood movies? Note that Dr Balogun has a PhD in movie making and also note that he hates the name "Nollywood". He has travelled all over the world to campaign against it.
Do you know that Nigerian movies that were shot on celluloid were shown in Nigerian cinemas like:
Kings Cinema, Lewis Street, Lagos Island.
Casino Cinema, Alagomeji, Yaba.
Roxy Cinema, Apapa.
Pen Cinema, Agege.
Plaza Cinema, Onikan/Tafawa Balewa Square.
Metro Cinema, Onipanu.
Glover Hall, Customs/Broad Street, Lagos.
Danjuma cinema, Agege.
God Dey cinema, Ajegunle.
and the Cinema Hall of the National Arts Theatre, Iganmu in the 1960s, 70s and 1980s?
Your definition of Nollywood is obviously very wrong.
Photos:
1) The late Chief Hubert Ogunde (who died in 1990).
2) Casino Cinema, Lagos in 1967.
3) A young Dr Ola Balogun producing a movie in the 1960s.
See how you contradicted yourself. You said that Nollywood is all movies produced in the Nigerian film industry, yet you said that Living in Bondage is the pioneer of Nollywood in Nigeria. Living in Bondage was released in 1992! So what would you call "Aiye", Hubert Ogunde's movie that was shot on celluloid in 1979 and shown in cinemas like Kings Cinema, Casino Cinema, etc. In Lagos?
What would you call Eddie Ugbomah's famous movie, "Death of a Black President" that was released in the early 1980s? Chief Ugbomah had to flee Nigeria because of that movie. The movie was about Murtala Muhammed's death, but the Nigerian Army did not give him permission to use military uniforms and equipment, but he did it anyway and he had to escape from Nigeria.
Would you call Dr Ola Balogun's movies, which were shot on celluloid in the 1970s Nollywood movies? Note that Dr Balogun has a PhD in movie making and also note that he hates the name "Nollywood". He has travelled all over the world to campaign against it.
Do you know that Nigerian movies that were shot on celluloid were shown in Nigerian cinemas like:
Kings Cinema, Lewis Street, Lagos Island.
Casino Cinema, Alagomeji, Yaba.
Roxy Cinema, Apapa.
Pen Cinema, Agege.
Plaza Cinema, Onikan/Tafawa Balewa Square.
Metro Cinema, Onipanu.
Glover Hall, Customs/Broad Street, Lagos.
Danjuma cinema, Agege.
God Dey cinema, Ajegunle.
and the Cinema Hall of the National Arts Theatre, Iganmu in the 1960s, 70s and 1980s?
Your definition of Nollywood is obviously very wrong.
I said Living in bondage CAN'T be the pioneer of Nollywood. Read well. Gbam.
I said Living in bondage CAN'T be the pioneer of Nollywood. Read well. Gbam.
I said that your definition of Nollywood is wrong because there are movies that existed before anyone coined the name Nollywood, there are movies that were produced in a vastly different format from Nollywood movies and there are movie producers that predate Nollywood that have clearly stated that their work are not Nollywood movies, so Nollywood cannot be all the movies that are made or were made in Nigeria. Go and tell Dr Ola Balogun that his movies are Nollywood movies and see his reaction.
I said that your definition of Nollywood is wrong because there are movies that existed before anyone coined the name Nollywood, there are movies that were produced in a vastly different format from Nollywood movies and there are movie producers that predate Nollywood that have clearly stated that their work are not Nollywood movies, so Nollywood cannot be all the movies that are made or were made in Nigeria.
Did I say Living in Bondage is the pioneer of Nollywood?
That's not my definition but a quote from one of the actor of movie industry.
Besides, Nollywood has become a generally accepted name for Nigeria movie industry.
Did I say Living in Bondage is the pioneer of Nollywood?
That's not my definition but a quote from one the actor of movie industry.
Besides, Nollywood has become a generally accepted name for Nigeria movie industry.
You still don't understand, so I'll try to break it down for you one last time.
There were lots of movies that were shot on celluloid in Nigeria in the 1950s, '60s, '70s and '80s. These movies were shown in the cinemas that I listed above. They are a completely different segment of the Nigerian movie industry.
In fact, do you know that a Hollywood movie was shot and partially produced in Nigeria in 1990. That movie is obviously not a Nollywood movie, it's a Hollywood movie. The title of the movie is Mr Johnson and the star of the movie was Pierce Brosnan, who was also one of the stars of the James Bond movies. Hubert Ogunde was a guest star.
Nollywood began because of the problems that the NTA gave independent producers in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The only TV stations that existed at that time were the NTA and state TV stations. Independent producers looked for sponsors (usually UAC, PZ, Lever Brothers and Cadbury) who bought the airtime so that their productions could be shown on the NTA. However, NTA started misbehaving.
The NTA arbitrarily increased the cost of airtime and Amaka Isaac Ene (Amaka Igwe) was forced to take Checkmate off the NTA. She eventually syndicated it on state TV stations (LTV, OGTV, etc). Other producers were also forced to take their shows off the NTA.
After a caller on Morning Ride insulted President Babangida, independent producers were forced to submit their work to the NTA 5 days before it was shown, so that it can be vetted. In fact, Lola Fani Kayode had problems with the NTA way back in 1985 because her hit soap opera, Mirror in the Sun had a story about a corrupt government official and his girlfriend.
Therefore, some independent producers realised that they didn't need the NTA. They could produce their work on VHS cassettes and sell directly to the public. In fact, Amaka Isaac Ene also released Checkmate on video cassettes. The independent producer could make money from the sale of the cassette and still make money from advertiser like UAC, Lever Brothers, PZ and Cadbury and they didn't have to deal with NTA's problems. This was the beginning of Nollywood. That's why Living in Bondage is recognised as the pioneer Nollywood movie. That's why I understand what the VP meant when he said that the South East is the birthplace of Nollywood.
However, there was no name like Nollywood at the beginning. It was actually called Home Video because the movies were shot on home video equipment (camcorder and VHS cassette) and sold directly to the public. This was very different from the previous movies that were shot on celluloid and shown in cinemas.
The previous movies had fallen out of favour because of the increasing rate of armed robberies in the 1970s and '80s. People were to afraid to go to cinemas at night. Furthermore, the economic crisis of 1982 and the SAP palava of 1986 meant that people were looking for money to eat and they didn't have money to go to the cinemas.
According to Chief Eddie Ugbomah, the name Nollywood was coined by an Indian woman who said at a conference that "there is Hollywood and there is Bollywood, so this must be Nollywood". Chief Ugbomah hated the name. Why should a foreigner name our movie industry? He also hated the Nollywood industry initially. Remember that people like Eddie Ugbomah were trained movie makers and they shot on celluloid, while a lot of the people that started Nollywood were not really trained and they shot on VHS cassette. They also had very little money, while people like Eddie Ugbomah spent years raising money before they made a movie. However, before his death, Chief Ugbomah accepted the Nollywood industry as "what we have so we should try and encourage them".
Dr Ola Balogun hates Nollywood with a passion. He says that their actors and actresses do not know how to act, their movies are hurriedly produced and their scripts are nonsense. Dr Balogun got his Phd in movie making in France. When the French wanted to showcase Nollywood at the Caen Film Festival, Dr Balogun travelled to France to campaign against it. He often says that he knows where Hollywood is, he knows where Bombay is, but he doesn't know where Nollywood is (Eddie Ugbomah had also previously said the exact same thing).
Hubert Ogunde died before anyone even thought of anything called Nollywood.
Now, I do not agree with Dr Ola Balogun when he says that Nollywood is nonsense, however, I do know that there are many different kinds of movies in Nigeria and it's not all of them that are Nollywood movies. I had a friend that made movies in New York, but I would not call his movies Hollywood movies (it's not all movies that are made in the US that are categorised as Hollywood movies).
You still don't understand, so I'll try to break it down for you one last time.
There were lots of movies that were shot on celluloid in Nigeria in the 1950s, '60s, '70s and '80s. These movies were shown in the cinemas that I listed above. They are a completely different segment of the Nigerian movie industry.
In fact, do you know that a Hollywood movie was shot and partially produced in Nigeria in 1990. That movie is obviously not a Nollywood movie, it's a Hollywood movie. The title of the movie is Mr Johnson and the star of the movie was Pierce Brosnan, who was also one of the stars of the James Bond movies. Hubert Ogunde was a guest star.
Nollywood began because of the problems that the NTA gave independent producers in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The only TV stations that existed at that time were the NTA and state TV stations. Independent producers looked for sponsors (usually UAC, PZ, Lever Brothers and Cadbury) who bought the airtime so that their productions could be shown on the NTA. However, NTA started misbehaving.
The NTA arbitrarily increased the cost of airtime and Amaka Isaac Ene (Amaka Igwe) was forced to take Checkmate off the NTA. She eventually syndicated it on state TV stations (LTV, OGTV, etc). Other producers were also forced to take their shows off the NTA.
After a caller on Morning Ride insulted President Babangida, independent producers were forced to submit their work to the NTA 5 days before it was shown, so that it can be vetted. In fact, Lola Fani Kayode had problems with the NTA way back in 1985 because her hit soap opera, Mirror in the Sun had a story about a corrupt government official and his girlfriend.
Therefore, some independent producers realised that they didn't need the NTA. They could produce their work on VHS cassettes and sell directly to the public. In fact, Amaka Isaac Ene also released Checkmate on video cassettes. The independent producer could make money from the sale of the cassette and still make money from advertiser like UAC, Lever Brothers, PZ and Cadbury and they didn't have to deal with NTA's problems. This was the beginning of Nollywood. That's why Living in Bondage is recognised as the pioneer Nollywood movie. That's why I understand what the VP meant when he said that the South East is the birthplace of Nollywood.
However, there was no name like Nollywood at the beginning. It was actually called Home Video because the movies were shot on home video equipment (camcorder and VHS cassette) and sold directly to the public. This was very different from the previous movies that were shot on celluloid and shown in cinemas.
The previous movies had fallen out of favour because of the increasing rate of armed robberies in the 1970s and '80s. People were to afraid to go to cinemas at night. Furthermore, the economic crisis of 1982 and the SAP palava of 1986 meant that people were looking for money to eat and they didn't have money to go to the cinemas.
According to Chief Eddie Ugbomah, the name Nollywood was coined by an Indian woman who said at a conference that "there is Hollywood and there is Bollywood, so this must be Nollywood". Chief Ugbomah hated the name. Why should a foreigner name our movie industry? He also hated the Nollywood industry initially. Remember that people like Eddie Ugbomah were trained movie makers and they shot on celluloid, while a lot of the people that started Nollywood were not really trained and they shot on VHS cassette. They also had very little money, while people like Eddie Ugbomah spent years raising money before they made a movie. However, before his death, Chief Ugbomah accepted the Nollywood industry as "what we have so we should try and encourage them".
Dr Ola Balogun hates Nollywood with a passion. He says that their actors and actresses do not know how to act, their movies are hurriedly produced and their scripts are nonsense. Dr Balogun got his Phd in movie making in France. When the French wanted to showcase Nollywood at the Caen Film Festival, Dr Balogun travelled to France to campaign against it. He often says that he knows where Hollywood is, he knows where Bombay is, but he doesn't know where Nollywood is (Eddie Ugbomah had also previously said the exact same thing).
Hubert Ogunde died before anyone even thought of anything called Nollywood.
Now, I do not agree with Dr Ola Balogun when he says that Nollywood is nonsense, however, I do know that there are many different kinds of movies in Nigeria and it's not all of them that are Nollywood movies. I had a friend that made movies in New York, but I would not call his movies Hollywood movies (it's not all movies that are made in the US that are categorised as Hollywood movies).
I understand your point. However, I still maintain that Nigeria movie industry precedes Living in Bondage or Nollywood though Nollywood has become a general "accepted" name for some Sub industry of Nigeria movie.
I understand your point. However, I still maintain that Nigeria movie industry precedes Living in Bondage or Nollywood though Nollywood has become a general "accepted" name for some Sub industry of Nigeria movie.
Now you are talking. Now we can agree. "Nigerian film industry predates Nollywood". I agree with that.
Now you are talking. Now we can agree. "Nigerian film industry predates Nollywood". I agree with that.
Of course, there was never a time I disagreed on this because I watched home videos in my house in the 80s long before Living in Bondage or Nollywood was coined.
"People wouldn't have considered reading theater arts till they saw living in bondage"
Definitely, this statement shows he doesn't know the history of movie industry in Nigeria.
of course that is the truth. The discipline "theatre arts" as it were was mainly an academic stuff that prepared it's graduate civil service and related corporate field. nollywood made acting career lucrative and gave a lot of theatre arts professionals a niche. Its one of pillars of Nigerian economy. Many choose to study theatre arts today because they prefer an acting career.
You still don't understand, so I'll try to break it down for you one last time.
There were lots of movies that were shot on celluloid in Nigeria in the 1950s, '60s, '70s and '80s. These movies were shown in the cinemas that I listed above. They are a completely different segment of the Nigerian movie industry.
In fact, do you know that a Hollywood movie was shot and partially produced in Nigeria in 1990. That movie is obviously not a Nollywood movie, it's a Hollywood movie. The title of the movie is Mr Johnson and the star of the movie was Pierce Brosnan, who was also one of the stars of the James Bond movies. Hubert Ogunde was a guest star.
Nollywood began because of the problems that the NTA gave independent producers in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The only TV stations that existed at that time were the NTA and state TV stations. Independent producers looked for sponsors (usually UAC, PZ, Lever Brothers and Cadbury) who bought the airtime so that their productions could be shown on the NTA. However, NTA started misbehaving.
The NTA arbitrarily increased the cost of airtime and Amaka Isaac Ene (Amaka Igwe) was forced to take Checkmate off the NTA. She eventually syndicated it on state TV stations (LTV, OGTV, etc). Other producers were also forced to take their shows off the NTA.
After a caller on Morning Ride insulted President Babangida, independent producers were forced to submit their work to the NTA 5 days before it was shown, so that it can be vetted. In fact, Lola Fani Kayode had problems with the NTA way back in 1985 because her hit soap opera, Mirror in the Sun had a story about a corrupt government official and his girlfriend.
Therefore, some independent producers realised that they didn't need the NTA. They could produce their work on VHS cassettes and sell directly to the public. In fact, Amaka Isaac Ene also released Checkmate on video cassettes. The independent producer could make money from the sale of the cassette and still make money from advertiser like UAC, Lever Brothers, PZ and Cadbury and they didn't have to deal with NTA's problems. This was the beginning of Nollywood. That's why Living in Bondage is recognised as the pioneer Nollywood movie. That's why I understand what the VP meant when he said that the South East is the birthplace of Nollywood.
However, there was no name like Nollywood at the beginning. It was actually called Home Video because the movies were shot on home video equipment (camcorder and VHS cassette) and sold directly to the public. This was very different from the previous movies that were shot on celluloid and shown in cinemas.
The previous movies had fallen out of favour because of the increasing rate of armed robberies in the 1970s and '80s. People were to afraid to go to cinemas at night. Furthermore, the economic crisis of 1982 and the SAP palava of 1986 meant that people were looking for money to eat and they didn't have money to go to the cinemas.
According to Chief Eddie Ugbomah, the name Nollywood was coined by an Indian woman who said at a conference that "there is Hollywood and there is Bollywood, so this must be Nollywood". Chief Ugbomah hated the name. Why should a foreigner name our movie industry? He also hated the Nollywood industry initially. Remember that people like Eddie Ugbomah were trained movie makers and they shot on celluloid, while a lot of the people that started Nollywood were not really trained and they shot on VHS cassette. They also had very little money, while people like Eddie Ugbomah spent years raising money before they made a movie. However, before his death, Chief Ugbomah accepted the Nollywood industry as "what we have so we should try and encourage them".
Dr Ola Balogun hates Nollywood with a passion. He says that their actors and actresses do not know how to act, their movies are hurriedly produced and their scripts are nonsense. Dr Balogun got his Phd in movie making in France. When the French wanted to showcase Nollywood at the Caen Film Festival, Dr Balogun travelled to France to campaign against it. He often says that he knows where Hollywood is, he knows where Bombay is, but he doesn't know where Nollywood is (Eddie Ugbomah had also previously said the exact same thing).
Hubert Ogunde died before anyone even thought of anything called Nollywood.
Now, I do not agree with Dr Ola Balogun when he says that Nollywood is nonsense, however, I do know that there are many different kinds of movies in Nigeria and it's not all of them that are Nollywood movies. I had a friend that made movies in New York, but I would not call his movies Hollywood movies (it's not all movies that are made in the US that are categorised as Hollywood movies).
Living in bondage gave birth Nigerian movie industry which changed to nollywood. It is easy to call those ones shot on celluloid and stage performances movies but it is doubtful whether movie making of the era possess requisite characteristics that will make one to brand it a "movie industry". It is also okay to trace the background of nollywood to the stage performances of the 60/70s and the tv drama series of the 80s, but to outrightly brand them nollywood is a bit of a disservice to history. The productions of the 70s and 80s were done by which company? which marketing company distributed them?
Can you have a movie industry without home video?
Most of these were absent which was why nobody knew about them and the actors. They relied on cinema and TV sponsorship to reach their audience. is that one an industry?
To me, a virile movie industry needs three key things finance (production) creativity (directors, actors, video effects etc) Marketing
Living in bondage brought these. Nollywood didn't start because of Nta issues with producers, it started when a Vhs importer couldn't sell off his goods and decided to try production. it was successful as he made more than three times the expected profit. other businessmen had to key into that using production companies. wealthy and popular actors, producers, directors and markers were born. Nice movies were made too and lucrative industry which later became known a nollywood was born.
Noneroone: Living in bondage gave birth Nigerian movie industry which changed to nollywood. It is easy to call those ones shot on celluloid and stage performances movies but it is doubtful whether movie making of the era possess requisite characteristics that will make one to brand it a "movie industry". It is also okay to trace the background of nollywood to the stage performances of the 60/70s and the tv drama series of the 80s, but to outrightly brand them nollywood is a bit of a disservice to history. The productions of the 70s and 80s were done by which company? which marketing company distributed them?
Can you have a movie industry without home video?
Most of these were absent which was why nobody knew about them and the actors. They relied on cinema and TV sponsorship to reach their audience. is that one an industry?
To me, a virile movie industry needs three key things finance (production) creativity (directors, actors, video effects etc) Marketing
Living in bondage brought these. Nollywood didn't start because of Nta issues with producers, it started when a Vhs importer couldn't sell off his goods and decided to try production. it was successful as he made more than three times the expected profit. other businessmen had to key into that using production companies. wealthy and popular actors, producers, directors and markers were born. Nice movies were made too and lucrative industry which later became known a nollywood was born.
How the heck can you say that " it is doubtful whether movie making of the era possess requisite characteristics that will make one to brand it a "movie industry". There were cinema chains, Ogunde owned a Film Village, there were distributions channels that moved the films to cinemas all over the country like La Scala cinema, Odeon Cinema, etc.
Dr Ola Balogun owned the Afrocult Film Company that produced his own films and also produced Hubert Ogunde's films and Moses Olaiya's films. He had studied movie making in France (up to Phd level) and had also worked at the Nigerian Film Corporation. Do you know the number of people that were employed at the hundreds of cinema houses across the country? You might say that you are not aware of how the film industry was back then, but don't say that there was no film industry. It was a big deal in Nigeria back in the day (before the economic crisis of the 1980s).
Golden Age or Golden era are terms used in Nigerian film history to designate the motion picture industry of Nigeria from the late 1950s to the late 1980s.[1] It captures the mode of visual and sound production, as well as the method of distribution employed during this period. This period began with the formal recognition of the Nigerian Film Unit as a sector in 1954,[2] with the first film entirely copyrighted to this unit being Fincho (1957) by Sam Zebba.
After Nigeria's independence in 1960, the cinema business rapidly expanded, with new cinema houses being established.[3] As a result, Nigerian content in theatres increased in the late 1960s into the 1970s, especially productions from Western Nigeria, owing to former theatre practitioners such as Hubert Ogunde and Moses Olaiya transitioning into the big screen.[4][5] In 1972, the Indigenization Decree was issued by Yakubu Gowon, which demanded the transfer of ownership of about a total of 300 film theatres from their foreign owners to Nigerians, which resulted in more Nigerians playing active roles in the cinema and film.[6]
The oil boom of 1973 through 1978 also contributed immensely to the spontaneous boost of the cinema culture in Nigeria, as the increased purchasing power in Nigeria made a wide range of citizens to have disposable income to spend on cinema going and on home television sets.[4] After several moderately successful films, Papa Ajasco (1984) by Wale Adenuga became one of the first Nigerian Blockbusters, reportedly grossing about ₦61,000 (approx. 2015 ₦21.5 million) in three days. A year later, Mosebolatan (1985) by Moses Olaiya also grossed ₦107,000 (approx. 2015 ₦44.2 million) in five days.[7] The 1980s was also the period of major boom in the television industry, with several books from notable authors being adapted into television series.[8] Many of these television productions were later released on video and as a result, a small scale informal video trade developed, which led to the emergence of the Video boom in the 1990s.[9]
The Golden Age began to face a major gradual decline in the late 1980s; This decline has been attributed to several factors, including the reduction in the value of Naira, lack of finance and marketing support, lack of standard film studios and production equipment, frequent Government structural adjustment programmes due to military dictatorships,[4] as well as inexperience on the part of practitioners.[10][11][12] It is also generally believed by stakeholders that the decline in this era was due to negligence as a result of the oil boom, which affected other sectors of the Nigerian economy as well.[10][6] It has also been noted to be as a result of increase in the ownership of television sets across the country; the films produced during this era usually screened over a single weekend and are released on video the following week, it no longer made sense anymore to visit the theatres and most families preferred to wait a few days to get their hands on the VHS copies.[12][13] In the early 1990s, only a few of the once vibrant cinema houses were still in operation, and all had collapsed before 1999.[11] However, as at 2009, there's an emerging movement in the film industry, which is rapidly reviving the cinema culture of Nigerians once again.[14][15][16]
In 1954, before Nigeria's independence, the Nigerian film industry became formally recognized as a sector and was grouped as a unit in the information department of the then Ministry of Information.[17] This unit was a re-organized local unit, which united the broader term 'Nigerian Film Unit' which had been established in 1949;[2] the function of this film unit was to produce documentary films and newsreels on local events of great importance, leading to the dominance of educative films in Nigerian theatres in the late 1950s[17] As at 1954, mobile cinema vans played to at least 3.5 million people in Nigeria, and films being produced by the Nigerian Film Unit were screened for free at the 44 available cinemas.[2] The first film entirely copyrighted to this unit is Fincho (1957) by Sam Zebba; Fincho is also known as the first Nigerian film to be shot in colour.[18]
Post-Independence
After Nigeria gained independence in 1960, the cinema business rapidly expanded, with new cinema houses being established.[11] However, there came a significant influx of American, Indian, Chinese and Japanese films; posters of films from these countries were all over theatre halls and actors from these industries became very popular in Nigeria. It was reported that Nigerian kids began to know more on "travails of American Indians than they did about the Wole Soyinka-led Mbari Mbayo cultural group, or the socio-cultural history of Nigeria".[10][17] However, in the late 1960s and into the 1970s Nigerian productions in theatres increased gradually, especially productions from Western Nigeria; this was basically due to former theatre practitioners such as Hubert Ogunde, Moses Olaiya, Jab Adu, Isola Ogunsola, Ladi Ladebo, Sanya Dosumu and Sadiq Balewa amongst others, who transitioned into the big screen.[4][5][17] Latola Films, which started the production of motion pictures since 1962, has often been noted as the earliest Nigerian indigenous film production company.[19] Television broadcasting in Nigeria also began in the 1960s and received much government support in its early years.[9]
