nollywood > hollywood

fascinating tidbit buried under the gaza inquiry in yesterday’s noon briefing from the secretary-general…

NOLLYWOOD CLOSING GAP ON BOLLYWOOD

  • Nollywood, Nigeria’s film industry, is closing the gap on Bollywood, according to an international cinema survey conducted by the Institute of Statistics for the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
  • While India remains the world’s leading film producer with 1,091 feature-length films in 2006, Nigeria produced 872 films in video format. Nigeria has overtaken the United States for second place where 485 major films where produced.
  • UNESCO says that the growth of Nollywood attracts considerable attention, especially in developing countries looking for alternatives to the U.S. or European models of film production and distribution. It adds that Nigerian filmmakers rely on video instead of film to reduce production costs; that about 99% of screenings occur in informal settings, such as “home theatre” and that more than half of Nollywood films are produced in the country’s local languages, although English remains a prominent language.