WELCOME TO NOLLYWOOD World Cinema: African Showcase

Nigeria produces 2,400 films a year-it’s the third largest film industry worldwide. Nigerian filmmakers are not dreaming about making it big in Hollywood, they’re just picking up a camera and making a movie in Nollywood.

Nollywood director lzu Ojukwu learned how to make movies by building a projector from scratch. At the center of this film is the production of his epic film LAVIVA. Ojukwu employs a cast of 700 for his epic African war film, but hiring a cast and feeding them are two very different things. When there is no money to pay the “welfare” lady (catering), she simply stops making food and the actors are forced to act through their hunger. This is a lesson in guerilla filmmaking, Nigerian style.

In Nigeria, you’re not a real filmmaker until, like Chico Ejiro (aka Mr. Prolific) you’ve made so many films that you don’t remember the plotlines. Welcome to Nollywood.