The history of Nollywood as a film industry

 

Nollywood history overview

 The creation of nollywood started in the 1960s. It was when the first nollywood movies were being created by historical filmmakers such as Ola Balogun, Hubert Ogunde, Jab Adu, Moses Olayia and Edidie Ugboma. They are regarded as the pioneer of Nigeria filmmakers. These pioneers started the Nigerian movie industry in a country full of citizen that looked to Hollywood for their entertainment.

You May Like: Biography of Hubert Ogunde

Hubert Ogunde according to Britannica.com reviews that he was a pioneer in the field of Nigerian folk opera. In 1945 he founded Ogunde theatre which was the first professional theatrical company in the nation, because of his donations to the industry, he is often applaud as the father of Nigerian theatre.

The term "Nollywood" was coined by the new York times journalist Norimitsu Onishi in 2002, when he observed film making activities in Lagos, Nigeria. The term mirrors two of the most notable areas in film production, Hollywood in us, and Bollywood in India's Bombay.

The term nollywood refers to "nothing wood" which means creating something from nothing.

Nollywood divided it's audience with the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in UK. NTA was the sole broadcaster of media content back then before it stopped producing media content in 1990, which sprout out talent from actors, writers, director and producers who cut their teeth in the NTA environment and who had profited from state-sponsored training, albeit for television production.

 

Nollywood as a unique film industry:

Nollywood has remained a unique film industry since it's creation. The early stories were United with by popular theme such as love, conflict with mother-in-law and marriage. 

They reflect the colourful culture,relative affluence and the architecture in our Nigerian societies, remaining true to authentic, believable storytelling.

In the early days, movies like living in bondage, violated Glamour Girls, Nneka the pretty serpent and Rattlesnake were financially very successful. In this recent times, movies like Omoghetto, merry men (the youruba Demons) is as well successful.

The sole reason Nollywood was created 

Nollywood was created to make it possible for Africans to view film made by follow African on a huge scale. Which encouraged intra African tourism, trade, traditions, habits and culture across the world. They cultivated a monolithic African audience as a result has become the world's second largest film industry.