The Nigerian film industry, known as Nollywood, was founded in the 1990s. A group of Nigerians produced movies in the Nigerian language for Nigerian audiences to escape the bitter truth they come across in day-to-day life.
Nollywood, a portmanteau of Nigeria and Hollywood, is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term dates back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in The New York Times.
Nollywood first emerged in the early 1990s, thanks to the efforts of pioneers like Kenneth Nnebue and Ola Balogun. Nnebue was the first to produce a Nigerian feature film, Living in Bondage (1992), which was an instant hit with audiences.
Palaver, otherwise known as Palaver: A Romance of Northern Nigeria, is a 1926 silent film shot in British Nigeria; it is recognized today as the first Nigerian feature film. The film was significant for its use of non-professional local Nigerians as actors.
How Nigeria's Nollywood Became A Multi Billion and World 2nd Largest Film Industry
Who invented Nollywood?
Nollywood is one of Africa's most successful film industries and brings billions of dollars annually. Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian author who released “Things Fall Apart” in 1958, is credited with starting it all. He wanted to make films but had no idea how to make one.
The Yoruba people and their traveling theater tradition are a major player in the creation of Nollywood. The Yoruba are a group of African people living in the western part of Nigeria and Benin, who would put on plays as they traveled from village to village.
The earliest feature film made in Nigeria is 1926's Palaver directed by Geoffrey Barkas, which was also the first to feature Nigerian actors in substantial roles.
What is Nollywood? The Nigerian film industry, known as Nollywood, is the second-largest in the world in terms of output, turning out over 2,500 movies each year. This amount tops Hollywood and is only surpassed by Bollywood in India.
Africa. Ghollywood refers to the film industry in Ghana. Hillywood refers to the annual Rwanda Film Festival and to the film industry in general in Rwanda, a country known for its hilly terrain. Nollywood refers to the film industry in Nigeria.
Roundhay Garden Scene is a short silent motion picture filmed by French inventor Louis Le Prince at Oakwood Grange in Roundhay, Leeds, in northern England on 14 October 1888. It is believed to be the oldest surviving film. The camera used was patented in the United Kingdom on 16 November 1888.
Nollywood—the Lagos-based Nigerian film industry—has become the third-largest film industry in the world, and it is by far the most powerful purveyor of an image of Nigeria to domestic and foreign populations.
Nigeria is home to Africa's most vibrant movie industry. Because of their vast and growing audience, both in Africa and abroad, Nigerian movies are very influential. So below are some positive and negative things I've noticed in Nigerian movies over the years.
Is Nollywood the second largest film industry in the world?
What is Nollywood? With an annual output of nearly 2,500 films, Nigeria's Nollywood is the world's second-largest film industry, right behind India's Bollywood.
He effectively created an African film industry out of nothing: In 1963, with a used 16mm camera and leftover film stock sent by friends from Europe, he made a short called Borom Sarret (The Wagon Driver), considered the first African movie made by a black African.
The cinema of the United States, often generally referred to as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. The United States cinema (Hollywood) is the oldest film industry in the world and also the largest film industry in terms of revenue.
Hausa. The Hausa are primarily located in West Africa in northwestern Nigeria and southern Niger but they are also found in Cameroon, Togo, Chad, Benin, Burkina Faso, and Ghana. They are notable because they are the largest ethnic group in Africa with a population of 78 million.
Nollywood is the 2nd largest film industry in the world. There are regular nollywood film festivals and movie premiers in London. It is very popular with Africans generally, Jamaicans and other west indies; also in Europe, American, Canada, etc.
The Ijaw People are the oldest tribe in Nigeria, and one of the world's most ancient people. The Ijaws have lived in the Delta region before the fifth millennium BCE, and they were able to keep a separate identity because they lived where the agriculturally dependent Bunue-Kwa groups were unable to penetrate.
There has been much argument about which tribe in Nigeria is the oldest. The Ijaws started inhabiting the Niger Delta region of what is now Nigeria as far back as 800 BCE, thus making them one of the world's most ancient peoples. They have existed as a distinct language and ethnic group for over 5000 years.
Topping the list is Nigeria, home to Nollywood, the second-largest film industry globally in terms of movie production. With an average revenue of $15.32 million, Nollywood boasts an astonishing output of about 2,500 films annually, second only to India's Bollywood.
