Hollywood and Bollywood Make Room for Nollywood

Nigerian movies have found a place next to those from Hollywood and Bombay, India's equivalent, Bollywood, in English-speaking Africa. The Surulere district of Lagos, Nigeria, is a center for filmmaking in West Africa’s new moviemaking capital.

Since the late 1990's, Nigerian movies have found a place next to offerings from Hollywood and Bollywood in the cities, towns and villages across English-speaking Africa. Though made on the cheap, with budgets of about only $15,000, the Nigerian movies have become huge hits, with stories, themes and faces familiar to other Africans. It is now, according to conservative estimates, a $45 million a year industry.

Serious movies about Africa that win awards in the United States and Europe are usually made by African filmmakers based in Paris or London, and attract little attention among most Africans. But Nigeria's pulp movies have had a wide influence on African popular culture — so much so that they have suddenly made acting an attractive profession in Nigeria and have transformed the Surulere district from a dull neighborhood of two-story businesses and houses into a mecca of dreams and desires.

"This is Hollywood in Nigeria," said Emeka Ani, an actor whose two-room office in Surulere serves as the center for the Actors Guild of Nigeria. In Mr. Ani's inner office he keeps a file of Nigeria's famous actors and a list of guild members, which has grown to 5,000 from 500 since its creation in 1996. In the other room, he sells videocassettes of hundreds of movies, which are known here as home videos. Christian songs flow through the office. By midmorning, the music changes to the dance rhythms of Nigerian night life and the young would-be actresses working in his office dance to popular Nigerian music.

Outside, on Folawiyo Bankole Street, a steady stream of eager young men and women pause before the audition notices on two boards. They hang around on the street, exchanging gossip and tips, causing traffic jams on the narrow two-lane street. When a star comes by, a crowd gathers. The crowd gradually moves to Winis, a hotel and restaurant a couple of buildings away from Mr. Ani's that is the hangout for actors, directors and producers. They sit in the bar and make deals over Gulder beer and hot pepper soup.

With such low budgets, the movies are typically filmed over several days, with just one digital camera. The stories are perhaps no different from those found in Hollywood movies, though many have Africa-specific themes. By all accounts, the first big hit was the 1992 movie "Living in Bondage." It gave birth to the film industry, which is dominated by the Ibo tribe, said Remy Ohajianya, an actor who is chairman of the actor’s guild. But the explosive growth occurred after 1998, when Nigerian movies began to be exported all over Africa, especially in the English-speaking countries. So many films were being made that, early this year, producers spat out 54 titles in a single week. After a four-month voluntary recess, the industry has agreed to limit the releases to eight a week.

A week or two after shooting ends, the movies flood the Nigerian market. They are sold for $2.15 a cassette and shown to the public for a few pennies in restaurants, video centers or private homes operating as movie houses. An average movie will sell about 50,000 copies and a blockbuster four times that. The Nigerian movie industry now produces more than 400 movies a year. At that rate, the producers bring in an estimated $45 million a year; but other people, at movie centers, and bootleggers, also capitalize from the movies.

Top actors like Kate Henshaw-Nattall, who is well recognized throughout Africa, now earn about $4,000 a movie, a sum that was inconceivable only a few years ago and one that remains out of reach for most working Nigerians. Charles Awurum, another popular actor, began his acting career in sleepy Imo State in 1982. He appeared on a weekly soap opera called "Dusk of the Gods" and made less than $7 an episode. After his first movie in 1994, he left Imo State for "greener pastures" in Surulere. He had a breakthrough with "Ekulu," a love story about an African slave and a White woman who frees him. When they come to Africa, she is rejected by his society, and they flee into the jungle.

Nigerian intellectuals dismiss these movies as exploitation. But their growing popularity, coupled with the big salaries, has changed the traditional perception of acting and actors in Nigerian society. "Before, if you were an actor, people would just wave you away," Mr. Awurum said. "Before, you would kill your daughter if she told you she wanted to become an actress. Actresses were regarded as no better than prostitutes, kissing on the screen. "Now, everywhere I go, people embrace me. Everybody wants to be my friend."

Genevieve Nnaji, maybe the hottest actress on the Nollywood scene, is also a singer and producer has starred in over 60 movies. Her beauty has been praised as incredible, and she has been compared to Gabrielle Union and Nia Long. Her smoldering good looks and her intelligence are hard to ignore and her presence on screen is always memorable. Her foray into acting started in 1998 and helped launch her modeling career when she was chosen to be the face of Lux soap in 2004. In March 2008, she launched a new clothing line called St. Genevieve, adding fashion designer to her list of titles. The line has gained in popularity and was chosen as a feature for the magazine, Today’s Woman. Her business savvy has guided her career and helped her build a niche for herself both in and out of Nollywood.