Thread: Nouvelle Nollywood!

Originally Posted by takestyle

I think there has to be a complete break from the Nollywood mainstream, at least for a while... And not just the mainstream of Nollywood filmmakers; I mean the mainstream Nollywood audience, too. Which is all the more reason why it's important to develop a scene... Because you have to build your own audience... Cultivate a viewership that understands and appreciates what you are trying to do. Because the regular Nollywood audience really does not give a...

Will this not amount to trying to build a different industry entirely as against an attempt of improving the one on ground? I don't think one has to dissociate from Nollywood in order to be capable of making qualitative and WATCHABLE MOVIES.
Agreed that some Nollywood audience are part of the problem facing the industry, for lack of high expectations from producers. I think the Nollywood audience have categories too, there are those that will go all out for the AKI n' UKWA nonsense, while there are the categories that are longing for an improvement on the "Letter To A Stranger" kind of movies.
I believe one can have quality production without having to breakaway entirely from mainstream Nollywood. IMHO.

Imagine every progressive,highly creative and aesthetically very aware nigerian moviemaker being rich enough to produce and market their own movies at any time,ala Stephen spielberg, maybe?Would that not leave nollywood really buzzing with real creativity and true high quality productions?Instead nollywood is left at the mercy of...oh well...

*Looks to the sky* and dreams of having enough $$$$ to...

... Make our own version of 'Slumdog Millionaire'. Actually I just bought 'The Adventures of Souza' and am going to turn it into a screenplay... if only I could ever buy the film rights!!

It is true that a new nollywood audience base needs to be cultivated,this is inevitable,but with nobody or no groups of bodies to give this breakaway both financial and moral support,it will remain unachievable.
I have spent a long time studying the mainstream nollywood audience and although a lot of the faults can be placed on their doorsteps because of their complacency with mediocrity,there are real signs that there are a lot of them that are ready for the socalled breakaway new nollywood.What is needed is both the funding and the moral support necessary to nurture such a progression.Without that...

Originally Posted by takestyle

I think there has to be a complete break from the Nollywood mainstream, at least for a while... And not just the mainstream of Nollywood filmmakers; I mean the mainstream Nollywood audience, too. Which is all the more reason why it's important to develop a scene... Because you have to build your own audience... Cultivate a viewership that understands and appreciates what you are trying to do. Because the regular Nollywood audience really does not give a...

Lol!Better dough never enters into the hands of those who can use them to produce better things,especially in naija.Isn't that strange?

Originally Posted by Village-Boi

*Looks to the sky* and dreams of having enough $$$$ to...

Banks?What do those know about the art of filmmaking?
Besides,let us not forget that the involvement of them banks produced a movie like "Letters to A Stranger".Atleast one can count that as some sort of improvement,albeit a very fleeting one(as it is usually the case with things nigerian).
What is needed are moviemaking production companies with robust financial resources,or atleast good connections with banks.That would result in a situation whereby there is both funding and true support for nurturing of the noble art of moviemaking.
And really,we need to return to making movies for big screen exhibitions.

Originally Posted by chi

but even when the banks got involved in financing and having the SO CALL professionals steering the wheel... there wasn't any difference

Originally Posted by vince

Banks?What do those know about the art of filmmaking?

I think we are making excuses here, Vince.

Are banks *supposed* to know anything about the "art" of filmmaking? They're supposed to provide finance, and you said that what is needed is alternate financing.

Okay... Fair enough.

For so long, everybody has been crying "Our problem is these illiterate marketers who have enslaved us financially and meddle in the production instead of standing out of the way to let the professionals handle things."

Fair enough.

Ecobank selects a few sturdy "professionals," gives them a shitload of money, steps out of the way and waits for the wonderful result.

And what is the result?

The result is that the "professionals" take a good portion of that money to buy Jeeps and houses and use what's left to make the same shitty Nollywood movies.

Honestly, I do not blame the marketers at all. A lot of these so-called "professionals" and "artists" are really all mouth and trousers.

Originally Posted by vince

Banks?What do those know about the art of filmmaking?

Most probably, and quite rightly so, ...nothing.

Originally Posted by vince

What is needed are moviemaking production companies with robust financial resources,or atleast good connections with banks.

Exactly!

Originally Posted by vince

And really,we need to return to making movies for big screen exhibitions.

Would these be commercial films or films made for the love of the art? (I do believe a film comprising of both can be pulled off) - we just have to look at the recent trend - well a few years now - of the 'Western' world yearning for the exotic colours and cultures of 'other' lands.

Originally Posted by Village-Boi

*Looks to the sky* and dreams of having enough $$$$ to...

Stop dreaming, V-B. If you have a vision, MAKE. IT. HAPPEN.

This is the big problem with a lot of the "professionals" and "film visionaries" in Nigeria; nobody has any balls.

Everybody is walking around in self-pity, saying "I have this idea that is sure to make $100 million and win 7 Oscars but these marketers/businesspeople/government are too short-sighted to see it!"

Alright... If you are so sure that your idea has that much potential, then what are YOU staking on it?

These marketers that everybody derides so much... When they had their idea of building a viable movie industry in Nigeria, did they go running to the government with their hands out? Did they cry about how nobody wants to sponsor their brilliant idea?

Hell no! They mortgaged everything they had and risked the survival of themselves and their families to make it happen! And it worked!

Do you own a car? Sell it.
Do you have a savings account? Empty it.
Do you have a 401(k)? Liquidate that bad boy.
You have a lot of friends and family? Ask every human being you know for $100. AT LEAST.
Sell your body to science. Sell you blood plasma, your sperm. Give up a kidney if you have to.
Are you sexually attractive? Fuck a few people for money.

Some of this might sound extreme, but if it's too much for you to support your surefire vision, then why on earth should I believe you and invest in you?

If your vision is so surefire, you should be scared to spend all your savings, should you? After all, you're going to make it all back tenfold, right?

And what if you have nothing to mortgage?You have all this dream but you can't do all those things you listed simply because you don't have them to begin with.What then?Does that mean that one cannot keep his dream alive simply because there are no properties to sacrifice?I do not think so.
You don't seem to understand the problem facing the naija moviemaking industry.What if one do own a car or a house and is ready to either mortgage or sell to make a movie?How much finance can one garner from selling his or her car to make a movie?How many movies can one make to make a lasting difference to the whole industry(this here is the bottomline).
You sell everything you own to make a movie.It might or might not be a hit...let us assume that it was a commercial success.What happens afterwards is that the situation in the industry still remains exactly the same.
How many nollywood producers have mortgaged their properties to make a movie?Quite a few have already done that,i can tell you.But what difference have they made to the industry?Nothing.
This topic is not about individual producers realizing their dreams.It is about bringing nollywood up to a new level of production quality standard,and it will take more than mortgaging one's properties here and there to do that.
What we need are dedicated film funds and bodies to take care of movie financing and distribution while moviemakers concentrate on what they are trained to do and know how to do best,make movies.
If this situation cannot arise in nigeria,then nollywood itself will remain exactly where it is now,at best,and the worst scenario will be that it disintegrates into nothingness sooner or later.

Originally Posted by takestyle

Hell no! They mortgaged everything they had and risked the survival of themselves and their families to make it happen! And it worked!

Do you own a car? Sell it.
Do you have a savings account? Empty it.
Do you have a 401(k)? Liquidate that bad boy.
You have a lot of friends and family? Ask every human being you know for $100. AT LEAST.
Sell your body to science. Sell you blood plasma, your sperm. Give up a kidney if you have to.
Are you sexually attractive? Fuck a few people for money.

Some of this might sound extreme, but if it's too much for you to support your surefire vision, then why on earth should I believe you and invest in you?

If your vision is so surefire, you should be scared to spend all your savings, should you? After all, you're going to make it all back tenfold, right?

These would be commercial movies made with love for the art.Aesthetically pleasing movies that are made to achieve commercial success.The way nollywood and bollywood movies are made.There is not a single reason why the two should be separated.I never make this distinction between commercial movies and art movies.Every movie should be made with the love for the art,be it commercial or otherwise.
My motto is;Make aesthetically beautiful movies to achieve commercial success.

The two must go hand in hand.

Originally Posted by Village-Boi

Would these be commercial films or films made for the love of the art? (I do believe a film comprising of both can be pulled off) - we just have to look at the recent trend - well a few years now - of the 'Western' world yearning for the exotic colours and cultures of 'other' lands.

TS, trust me, if I owned this house... I would definitely sell, without thinking twice! Alas, that is not the case. However, apart from me wanting to shoot in Nigeria I am trying to get projects elsewhere off the ground. Y'all pray that the Middle Eastern project gets a green-light.

I do believe in 'Nollywood' or whatever we want to call it, I believe in the potential and I sure do believe in myself.

Will we get there? Definitely YES, YES, YES!

All I am saying is that I cannot stand all this hand-wringing and helplessness.

If you're waiting for the money to make your masterpiece to fall from the sky into your lap, you're looking at a looooooooong wait.

If you think you have what it takes to spin some surefire gold, then you need to roll up your sleeves and make that happen. And if you're telling me you don't have the gumption or ingenuity to do that, then it kinda makes me question if you really have the gumption or ingenuity to even make a produce a great movie in the hostile Nigerian environment to begin with.

Originally Posted by takestyle

...I cannot stand all this hand-wringing and helplessness.

Fair enough, not that that was what this post was about.

Originally Posted by takestyle

it kinda makes me question if you really have the gumption or ingenuity to even make a produce a great movie in the hostile Nigerian environment to begin with.

I'm pretty sure that, like myself, quite a number of people here are also involved in other things. Yes, you probably might say "Excuses, excuses" but it isn't. No, I cannot prove anything but I believe time will tell. It might not be me or anyone here but changes (which was the question raised) will happen as they have in practically every other film industry. Or don't you think so?