BY RACHEL SCHEIER

It wasn't Denzel Washington or Brad Pitt who drew Sadie Salvant, a 45-year-old Far Rockaway housewife originally from the island of Antigua, to go out on a recent windy January night.
She was among a crowd of excited fans who lined up on a Queens sidewalk for Aki and Paw Paw - as they are known from Benin to the Bronx - a comedic duo from Nigeria who are both under 4 feet tall.

They are two of the biggest names in Nollywood, as the ever growing Nigerian film industry is called. Long popular all over Africa, the films have recently gained a big following in the neighborhoods of New York.

"I love them," said Salvant, clutching two autograph-ready DVDs to her chest. "Every week, I buy more of them. They are like real life."

Aki and Paw Paw, whose real names are Chinedu Ikedieze and Osita Iheme, are in their 30s (they prefer not to give their exact ages), though they usually play kids. They arrived in New York in mid-December on a several-week tour to greet their U.S. fans.

Debola Cole of Debola's Corner, an African clothing shop in Far Rockaway, jumped at the chance to host the pair for a publicity appearance when she heard they were in town.

"They're very big. A lot of my customers ask for their movies," said Cole, who sells Nollywood videos at her shop for $10 each. At first, the main customers of the films were African immigrants, she said, but now Jamaicans, Haitians and African-Americans ask for them, too.

"Black people in America have long been looking for ways [to] connect with Africa," said Ogugua Iwelu, a Nigerian entertainment promoter who represents Aki and Paw Paw.

While they are often criticized for their bad production values, trite storylines and heavy reliance on witchcraft as a plot device, Nollywood movies have nonetheless become a worldwide phenomenon. Sold almost exclusively on video or via the Internet, the films are easily accessible, even in poor and remote places. Nigeria's film industry now produces some 2,000 films a year and has sales of about $250 million, making it the third largest in the world.

Africa has been a trendy subject in Hollywood recently, with films like "Blood Diamond" and "The Last King of Scotland." But Africans often complain they don't recognize themselves in Western portrayals of the continent.

Nollywood movies portray the struggles of the common man.

"If you want to see people shooting each other, you watch an American movie," said Kehinde Oyejunde, 44, a Nigerian who works for the Housing Authority and lives in Springfield Gardens. "These movies are about regular people."

Originally published on January 18, 2007

Click on the link below and see Aki and Paw Paw signing DVD's
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertain...p-411979c.html

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