Historically, the first exhibition of film in Nigeria was at the Glover Memorial Hall in Lagos dating back to 1903. However, it was not until 1948 that a Federal Film unit was enacted by law in Nigeria and started producing films, mainly documentaries, promoting colonialisation and colonial values.
The sphere of feature films was left to commercial cinema theatres exhibiting foreign productions. The distribution was handled by the multinational American Motion Picture Cooperation of Africa (AMPECA) and some Lebanese.
In the mid sixties, radical theories began to emerge challenging explanations on the negative attributes of our colonial experience, cultural dependency etc. Then came Nigeria’s first feature film. Kongi’s Harvest” (1970) whose commercial success was minimal, but its African heritage impact was phenomenal. Hence, other feature films followed, perhaps it was Bankole Bello’s ‘Iselu’ (1996) that closed the chapter of Nigerian Celluloid Films. Maybe, Fred Amata’s ‘Amazing Grace” (2006) would reopen the chapter of celluloid in Nigeria’s Film making once again.
The end of celluloid ironically marks the beginning of video movies in Nigeria. The technology is much cheaper, faster in finishing up the film, and has found ease of penetrating the market, courtesy of high video cassette recorder ownerships, moreover, it requires far less time to know how to operate than the celluloid chain of facilities.
The commercial success of Kenneth Nwabueze’s Living in Bondage’ (1995) and that of Tumbin Giwa productions “Gimbiya Fatima” (1994) opened the floodgate for Nigerian home movies today, Nigeria is rated the third largest producer of films in the world and most Nigerian film makers do tend to produce their home video movies, on independents (individuals).
In his remark about the Nigerian Film maker, Abdulkareen Mohammed, 1st vice chairman, MOPICON and president MOPPAN in his paper titled ‘Equipping Nigerian Film makers for the challenges of professionalism” he presented at the just ended two- day workshop on standardisation in home video/TV programmes production in Nigeria, held in Kano, said:
“We must recognise and concede that the Nigerian Film maker is unique – because he has courageously choosen the video format to serve his film making enterprise against the globally accepted and used format of celluloid which offers picture quality, depth of field and the big screen which it ends on. Yet the Nigerian film maker has emerged victorious, he churns out about N1000 home video movies annually and has offered opportunities to thousands. Consequently, he has created a niche for himself and his nation in what is being regarded as a ‘video phenomenon’ while the nation is rated as the third largest producer of films (video) on earth,” he maintained.
The MD/CEO, Moving Image Ltd, Kano, said “furthermore, the Nigerian Film makers has gone ahead to create his own critics who act as standard bearers to what he does.
Ibrahim Sheme, Jahman Anipolako, Dr. Ibrahim Malum Fashi, Muritala Sule,” Yahoogroups, Finafinan Hausa etc). Also, he has attracted scholars to study him and what he does in the likes of professor Abdalla Uba Adamu, Jonathan Hynes, Brain Larkin etc, and most importantly, he has evolved a business around film making with different trades and artisans being sustained by the audience who are both within and without. ‘Whether for good or bad the Nigeian Films-maker has exported the national culture,”.
He contended that video films reflect the flux of identities and contestory moralities.
It is also gathered that Sierra Leonians have taken Nigerian home movies to another level whereby they screen it to a sizeable crowd in the theatre, while in the rural areas of the Northern Nigeria, private entrepreneurs buy television sets, video cassette recorders, and portable generators, they secure an enclosed area where they screen Nigerian movies and charge gate fees.
At the ITPAN forum 2006, it was also said that Nigerian movies are widely watched, the Ghanians watch Nigerian Films because of the exotic cars, fantastic locations etc. The movies were even used as bribe at border checkpoints. According to the submission of the Association of Film Makers Corporative of Nigeria (AFCON) “every Nigerian home video has the potential of being watched by 15 million people out of Nigeria’s 120 million population, and a further five million outside Nigeria, hence a total of 20 million audience per movie which is quite conservative. Given a profit margin of N10.00 per audience, each movie could then gross a conservative N200 million for the film maker.
He, however, stressed that piracy, poor marketing and distribution reduces the profit margin considerably. He said that notwithstanding, the 2005 budget speech of president Obasanjo against the background of his recognition of the home movie sector, has mentioned film making as one of the areas government intends to explore in enhancing its employment generation efforts and its foreign exchange earnings.
The whole idea is for the film maker to be proactive in seeking for knowledge imbibing its spirit in the process of film making while taken full responsibility for and on behalf of Nigerians, if he does this, the people and nation will pride themselves in having a – truly Nigerians film industry that is of them, by them and for them. Nothing short of this will be alright for our dear nation.
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