Coming to prominence during the 1990s, the Nigerian film industry, or ‘Nollywood’ as it is often known, is currently one of the largest film industries in the world and the biggest in Africa. Here we look at some of the industry’s most exciting and distinguished auteurs.
Kunle AfolayanHailed by The New York Times as ‘The Scorsese of Lagos,’ Kunle Afolayan is a budding star of a younger generation of Nigerian filmmakers that marks the transitioning of Nollywood into a mature industry. Afolayan’s recent film Phone Swap screened at London’s Film Africa Festival, and according to one reviewer, the film is ‘an uproariously funny comedy of manners and misunderstanding, which drew from classic Hollywood screwball comedies, and infused a schematic plot with a cosmopolitan vibrancy’. As a high-flying businessman and a village girl accidentally swap phones and flight destinations, Afolayan’s warm and gentle film shows the cultural divisions within Nigerian society, highlighting the contrast of village and urban cultures. Other films by Afolayan include Irapada and The Figurine (Araromire).
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| Kunle Afolaya |
Born in 1966 in Eastern Nigeria, Aduaka has played an important role in promoting Nigerian film regionally and internationally. Originally studying engineering in England, Aduaka later enrolled in video arts at the London International Film School. Following this, he produced several short films and set up his own production studio called Granite FilmWorks. Aduaka’s debut feature film Rage won him widespread acclaim and a national release in Britain. In 2007, his film Ezra won the coveted 2007 Etalon de Yenenga prize at FESPACO in Burkina Faso and also screened at the Sundance Film Festival in Salt Lake City, Utah. In the film, Aduaka follows the schisms caused by civil war in Sierra Leone especially the plight of child soldiers and their daily struggle to return to normal life amidst the searing scars left by war.
Jeta Amata
Jeta Amata’s film Black November tackles political and geopolitical themes head on; its title is a reference to the execution of Nigerian environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa who led a campaign against multinational oil companies. Addressing the dark history of Western exploitation of Nigeria’s rich oil resources and official corruption in the country, Amata’s film is an overt move to break out of the stereotype of low-quality, apolitical cheapness that surrounds Nollywood titles. Amata’s other films include Game of Life, Alexa Affair and The Amazing Grace, a project in which he collaborated with Nick Moran to tell the story of John Newton, the British slave trader who became an abolitionist and wrote the hymn ‘Amazing Grace’.
Zina Saro-Wiwa
Zina Saro-Wiwa is a multimedia installation artist as well as a filmmaker and former BBC journalist. Born in Nigeria and raised in the UK along with her twin sister Noo Saro-Wiwa, author of Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria. Zina Saro-Wiwa worked as a freelancer for the BBC from the age of 20; in 2004, she produced a documentary called Hello Nigeria!. Overtly taking its cue from the UK’s Hello! Magazine, Saro-Wiwa’s film zooms into Nigeria’s celebrity culture and high society through Nigeria’s popular culture magazine Ovation. In 2008, Saro-Wiwa worked on This Is My Africa, which looks at Africa through a series of interviews, including with Yinka Shonibare and John Akomfrah. Since then, Saro-Wiwa has returned to her birth country to document the rise and eclecticism of Nollywood.
In addition to documentary and feature films, Saro-Wiwa is also an accomplished multimedia installation artist; a particularly poignant work is Sarogua Mourning, a performance video in which the artist confronts her inability to mourn the death of her father, prominent Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa. Zino Saro-Wiwa’s works examine the Nollywood phenomenon and Nigeria from the perspective of an outsider looking in, revealing her complicated relationship with the country.
Biyi Bandele
Having adapted Chinua Achebe’s landmark novel Things Fall Apart for stage production in 1997, Biyi Bandele’s latest project is to turn Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s celebrated historical novel Half of a Yellow Sun into a feature-length film. Drawing upon the talents of an international cast that includes Thandie Newton and Chewitel Ejiofor, Half of a Yellow Sun is set to be released in 2013. Having worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and worked on several screenplays and adaptations, Bandele’s directorial debut will reveal whether this versatile Nigerian playwright and novelist can usher Nigerian cinema into the mainstream.
By Stephanie Chang
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