Nollywood Babylon, a documentary that details Nigeria’s film industry, was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.

Nollywood, an industry whose impact stretches all through Africa as well as abroad. With over 2,000 films produced per year, Nollywood represents the third largest film industry in the world behind the United States and Indian film industries. Idumota Market, in Lagos, is one of the places where Nollywood films thrive.

In the documentary, we see just how important Lagos is to the success of the industry. It is here, as well as in Onitsha, where a film might sell 50,000 copies, even more. With Nollywood being a multi-million dollar industry, I am left to wonder whether the country itself profits from this booming industry or simply the producers. For some producers, the speedy production turnarounds mean that whatever profits were made from the last film are pumped back in to producing the next one.

In the film, Lancelot Idowu Imasuen, one of Nollywood’s most popular filmmakers, thrives off of that furious paced film style of shooting a project every week. At 37, Imasuen has made over 160 films (and counting). Imasuen represents one type of filmmaker, whereas there are other filmmakers, such as Eddie Ugbomah, that have impacted the Nigerian cinema industry.

Ugbomah’s Death of a Black President, highlighted in the film, was released in 1983, before Nollywood was even a term used to describe the Nigerian industry. The film addresses the coup that killed General Murtala Mohammed. Ugbomah is one of Nigeria’s most celebrated filmmakers, with over 30 years of film experience.

Many of Nollywood films center around religious and moral themes, with many of the films being overtly evangelical. One of Nollywood’s top producers is Helen Ukpabio, the head of Liberty Gospel Church, an evangelical organization with 50,000 members in its 77 churches. Nollywood Babylon explores the prevalent themes found in a majority of Nigerian films, such as those surrounding witchcraft.

What I liked about the documentary was its timeline of events that introduces audiences to the roots of Nigeria’s cinema industry, touching upon the founding of the first professional Nigerian theatre company by Hubert Ogunde, the influx of foreign films into Nigeria when it was under British colonial rule, the global movement of “Third Cinema”, the dilapidation of Nigera’s movie theatres, and finally the boom of Nollywood.

One can say things began to go downhill for both the homegrown cinema industry and the nation’s social infrastructure sometime after the Biafran War, when arms became more readily available and the government edged towards bankruptcy due to a decline in oil prices and a decline in the value of the naira, the local currency. Prior to 1984, nationalist films flourished. On the other end, one can say that things began to look up for the industry, as by 1985, every state received its own broadcasting station. Living in Bondage, produced in 1992, is heavily credited as setting the stage for Nollywood. The film was a huge success and inspired many merchants and small business owners to become film producers, due to the relative ease of producing a film.

Overall, the future of Nollywood is yet to be determined and the sky is the limit for those involved in this industry. Whether films will continue along the path of mainly addressing witchcraft and occult practices or step beyond this and devote more time to the social and political ills affecting Nigeria, remains to be seen. This is not to say that these themes should be totally abandoned, but just as the late great Fela Kuti poignantly stated, “Music is a weapon,” film is a weapon just as well. It is an opportunity to alter our realities and envision the world that we would like to see. Odia Ofeimun, one of Nigeria’s most prolific poets and social commentators, aptly states in the film, “The great Nigerian film has not yet been made.” - Jamati.com.