lagos nigeria home of africa's biggest film industry. in terms of production output it's considered the 2nd largest in the world off to india bought ahead of hollywood. a new york times article published in 2002 coins the industry's popular name. nollywood became popular through a certain time for film shot with digital cameras telling stories based on the dreams and fears of nigerian society distributed in bulk on street markets. the reports in the over 60 movie screen mouse in the markets today a new nollywood is emerging it generates an annual turnover of over $500000000.00 u.s. dollars and produces the superstars of the african continent going from iraq to give us a little bit of i think you know. with glitz and drama the industry out shines its humble origins in an ordinary electronics market we started this business we outsourced them in this business to get in the market and looking in the. street vendors continue to lay claim to nollywood a new breed of investor has entered the business. for the last we were earning around $30000.00 a month that was totally ok and then this american comes along and says your business is worth $9000000.00 make something of it it's an industry on steroids and make up that type. of thing that entertainment was huge it's a jungle out what is what it was a jungle in america it was a jungle in china you have the jungle in india becoming of the main he's becoming you know this in methods to the madness our girl go out there to compete on the world stage that's when the wood is going. the industry was born here in lagos. the african metropolis has a population of over 14000000. it's a city that promises much but demands even more. lagos sproles over a series of islands all connected to the mainland by a network of concrete bridges. urban development can't keep up with its exploding population. all over the. ferry boat. around 2 thirds of lagos humans live in slum areas like here in the cocoa a community built on stilts between lagos island and the mainland. the economy depends on trade through lagos is industrial homes. crude oil is nigeria's economic lifeblood it accounts for much of its federal revenues. and deny jungle meant. they have been telling us right from when the danger to main to the newest money for the country they want to focus on it in because they know that they cannot rely heavily on oil revenue and in this revenue that they can where they can get money for me from there the dimming industry magically fulfill. culture journalist who who sign it has been reporting on hollywood for over 20 years he's particularly interested in the generation that started the business you need to know your past to know where you're headed in the future you need to know those realty foundation what were their visions what were they trying to prove what we're doing scenes that they wanted to achieve you know with the industry. a film released in 1992 marks the birth of nollywood. living in bondage was a significant drop in the whole mix of films that were made at that time. it tells the story of andy an unemployed man whose debts drive him to despair. he meets an old friend who introduces him to a world of luxury. and his desire to join the club of the rich and beautiful draws him into an occult brotherhood. the price of membership is high. and he is confronted with a moral issue. in the end he chooses the money over his wife. shortly after her death and the now rich marries another one. despite the material comfort and his life takes a turn for the last. man . his wife's ghost returns to haunt and terrorize him and he eventually goes insane. the only source of hope left by handy is jesus christ. living in bondage to find one of the most important nollywood genres the get rich quick film it's narrative structure has a strong message of christian faith which remains a standard element of nigerian films today. oh. 000-000-0000 extension 000 yeah oh yeah. oh yeah. the movie about andy's rise and fall became a commercial hit song does a v.h.s. tape in street markets. today the hub of this distribution system is located in an electronics market in the western part of lagos. these 2 men belong to a task force of the market traders association a kind of substitute police force that patrols the vast labyrinth of a larger market. nollywood occupies its own section of the market. production and distribution of the films are managed by this. people in the mafia traders also normally would movie producers. the associations chairman is samuel and that can do it otherwise known as magnetic link was on the desire to get on this market for the 90 percent of the content not made up in other words that mean to imply don't offer love or more so forth you know about we started this business we are so often in this business to advance design using the good stuff not what i know. you saw on too much money sense anyway and this one thing done was shot from and on with that lead to every 14 days over 60 movies spam out in the markets just like you did the business used limbs for movies yet. you want to build a system to. me long long breath you know moments that are given it to you like it's all down to a long read at our own pipeline but i think we're news every yeah yeah. that. is the most important but not the only market for self produced films in nigeria the total number of films produced in nigeria is a long time. so we see 3 boards our film all of bodies to show for the scores and that is why it is up in this once you send it out off base on the top of. a quite some time this was the only method of distribution. but that changed in 2010 when 2 man was a bold business idea arrived in lagos. one of them was german investor boston got on. and since i'm a. and out of the market the 1st time i was in the market there weren't many white people there everyone looks at you as if to say what are you doing here. since i went up to one of the nollywood guys selling video c.d.'s there was a small market booth everyone was hot and sweating. his english wasn't easy for me to understand. because i said i wanted to buy the rights for some of his films but i didn't know if he really owned the rise she merely because it was hard for me to figure out what was going on i hadn't spent much time in nigeria it was still unfamiliar to me and i trust this guy or not i didn't have such a clear feeling but i thought no fun. the initiative behind the venture came from a friend of jason a british citizen with nigerian roots who had the idea to distribute nollywood films through you tube got to raise the initial capital on the london stock exchange after completing a degree in economics as a derivatives trader for the oil company british petroleum and sun which he was here when things finally got going and we bought our 1st 100 films they were really cheap because people weren't so internet savvy at the time. we acquired $100.00 films for $10000.00 and put them online and we made $2000.00 a day. and we thought wow. we're going to make a lot of dough in just 5 days we recovered our investment and thought let's buy more. when i was still working on the trading floor so i asked a few of my buddies there if they were interested in getting into the film business in nigeria. but they said sure we're in. the not much and we need to gather another $200000.00 and went on a serious shopping spree. so the move is a business initially he was surprised by the popularity. a sharp contrast for the producers. who know exactly why their films are so successful. says the producer of a wildly popular film about sheena rambo is the most successful film in the history of motherboard yes in the history of the making in the jury in the market this is the most successful film. the movie is based on the legend of sheena rambo a criminal sent to have carried out a series of spectacular robberies in the 1990 s. his name pays homage to the hollywood action classic starring sylvester stallone. is. with them part of this country and he does this you pity because of the sham he has in him. you know after come on believe in that but it's written to his buddy. in the film supernatural powers come from a magical snake. normally would films often make use of the treasure of west african oral tradition. sound and moving images give new life to well known narratives and make them magic appear . for you to make money you must think of commercial movies don't just think of good movies alone. i. think love is something that 1 may hear from toyota. and i got. it was well by them . if he has on the movie and the one is involved you must want to see the 1st. part of. christianity is also a strong source of inspiration for i call it lisa he often develops ideas based on compelling stories from the old testament 5 god saying for. it does a giant here and there's a small divide here on earth and i was told ok everybody would love the did was a put i'm going to going to do the job so well you just make david to just go to giant. and kim is no most don't you a lot of the gent do. you think. good what good is what is going to let me get is what this is feeling people watch that we have that block the view abuse. so sometimes i'll be at the back and see people doing this in my field i think yes i've got it. on occasionally so also appears as an actor in his own films. the sheena rambo series has released 18 video cd's and many of them have sold over a 1000000 copies all across africa. the producer has the means to achieve high audio visual quality but his business sense tells him not to. what you put if you. the quality reduces this is the sin it is quality you know what i'm talking about so any fear of this sort you cannot be proud my picture is too good so why the essence of suffering where are we are nobody we give attention to we. are not you understand so is about with the prince i curly's a has tried switching to d.v.d. but each time he failed the problem is the rampant piracy at a labor market we find ourselves in the web of the said we see challenge we now find out that for us to be added money enough in the screen loss deprive disparity between one and. it's a given pilots more power to sell more because here people care about what is cheap. the nigerian police have just confiscated pirate copies worth over $100000.00 us dollars. in order to survive in the face of piracy the filmmakers need to keep their costs as low as possible. the city of a somber and down to state in the south west of the country provides the ideal infrastructure. a small village on the outskirts of town has served as a backdrop for countless films. when i found. the muslim league let's go. read. more about i want my family down here i think what. your. art. in nigeria at this time the film is called an epic movie it is a highly successful genre that enables nollywood to construct its own version of africa's colonial past. the title of the movies or some of the song. is actually. on offer conto. about their community would be seized by a war on drugs seasonal evil man evil monk you can not walk this morning because paula from the song. you've really got on you want to go in this song of this song it was self seed is what you are find out if you really wish for that home prices shot up. c c several of the actors on science are actually evangelical pastors. i'm a pastor in my church knows that they become marks or stop me from acting because i believe i'm using that octon to preach something to the people also. and. we're going to require this is africa before the comment on the white my we have a life we have we have culture we have really enjoyed what we have what keeps society together i think that's what we hope for today in the next what into the war i'll fight about nollywood. the notion of a purely african well before the arrival of the europeans holds great fascination for nollywood audiences. the costumes on plants are inspired by the producers imagination more than research but historic and accuracy is don't take away from the success of these films. mercy johnson is undoubtedly one of knowledge world's biggest superstars we bring africa as a cultural the staple of millions the storytelling picture it is the fault of your father. he did this to you just. joining. us kind of bringing. into centrally our language and centrality address in its central. as a people you know that's what nollywood stands for i want to go from the line of. director ken steven has been in the business for many years he stopped counting his films a long time ago. you can start. which . is on average of 2 weeks p. a movie so i'm hoping to rumble this one then harvey to be a rest stop on the telly yeah let's go see rowsley i have to be frank about it he puts me on die and there's for a drop he goes well if you want to see you like time you're given a period of time to see could be joke and your success depends on the how well you do it and we didn't give in the particle of freedom of time we were given to deliver that out of iowa that i preferred yet i made a great forward here. solomon a patent is one of the most influential film producers in a samba for for this you on. the other while 51. he's come to the set to ensure that shooting today in the world will be just as there will be you don't like the way you go you know like the you like the movie you know the. heat and the women and all of that he was the model for one but he was always. the face demanded by the fake stars take the biggest chunk out of nollywood film budgets if mussina johnson goes a single day over a shuttle the financial viability of the entire project is jeopardized. lose a raffle them on your left. on your left. thank you. 7 for. this round of writing and video no man. 'd over the past 11 days the crew shot enough footage for a 4 hour film it will be divided into 6 parts and each one will be released as a separate video cd this production style has made nollywood one of the biggest film industries in the world. unfortunately real improvements in the art of filmmaking are almost impossible but things have started to change as many nigerian filmmakers begin to break new ground. with i got an interest into german expressionism new hollywood. i want that same appreciation. for the nigerian film industry people who can have the intellectual discourse about . karma sees film as art is feature length debut green white green from 2016 was screened at festivals around the world and streamed on netflix. green why green is a coming of age story about 4 friends from the 3 major ethnic groups of nigeria house they are by your book who go on an adventure to make a film inspired by many various history of. the script for the film within the film is based on a text by character called professor organ and the thoughts expressed in it reflects my karma's own analysis of the current political situation in nigeria. having seemingly moved from over 3 decades of merry go round military rule we stand now with the 3rd regime of the 3rd democrat. republic we find ourselves still uncertain when will the scourge of boko haram be brought to an end how can we curb the mass consumption crippling our country can we truly eradicate poverty when will we become an export based economy nigeria worth really what it was we're all ready to speak so that we can quit important bloody toothpicks i mean who imports toothpicks. among other things become a criticizes nigeria's heavy reliance on imports something that also applies to sophisticated films. with green white green the young filmmaker has shown that it is possible to turn the tables. we have a matter of cinematic woman on the continent you know and that's just what we're good at a real cinematic movement that. will stand the test of time to make an imprint in global cinema you know. karma has attracted attention he received state funding for his film and a fitting from the fact that the government has identified the industry as a key sector of the economy. in 2008 tough to realizing the business potential in his native country. left his job but odeon cinemas in the u.k. once home he helped found the company film house which developed 9 multiplex cinema we now want to do the whole good all 5 thing as a 3 and a half years from now. you know so. it's aggressive its ambitions but it's possible. the new cinema is not just one component and part of his grand business scheme. so welcome to film house it was. ok so we got to the next floor. to see that building there the green building then. that's the house of then good to the rich or the black man in the whole world clearly the rich africa so we like this office because something is when the wind blows from that side yeah blows through him and then touches us if we like. and here is one production and distribution. ok this is not just the fastest growing but the biggest film theatrical film distribution company of nigeria in west africa really was about to appear the other executive director of a film poster one give up on 3 years ago the scrooge removed the individual box office sides with the one man to magically hollywood and 10 b. this years ago 64 and that's where we will see a complete flip between hollywood and bollywood will see a complete flip it i double dare say will 1734 money is the only english he should be given so that i know of the war. the local films crucial for me. as movie ticket sales go up. and the demand for local production sing creases and brand new market for high quality films is evolving. film house film one does not only want to scream these films. but we definitely produce films we have produced albeit as part of a core production the wedding party the biggest film ever in west africa in cinema anyway because for. the wedding party released in 2016 was the 1st nigerian film to more than a 1000000 u.s. dollars at the box office. but even new normally world's biggest broadcaster only reached a certain section of the population. when you look at the demographics of the place it's really from here to the top from the middle to the top we haven't reached those guys down there and. the huge population this spend a lot of money but small volumes you know small denominations was huge part of you know so we are looking to go target those guys give them the entertainment they want. power wants to reach the masses starting in the poorer districts of lagos he envisages cinemas which sell tickets for about $1.00 and screen films produced by his own company. is a formula and its work is what we did meet with brittany morefield i'm also says wood on the next because we're working. to. think of this as the professionalization of nollywood and that's your point like. the joint you're microdyne your focus. on the u.k. . before film one brought him back to his home country donna. well in television in the u.k. in nigeria he now wants to realize our inspiration discounts for promising scripts writes them to think commercially successful formulas and in some productions he also sent senator writes his check the market will continue to grow and that's what we're gong to be known as the tyrants you know it's on steven spielberg's and all those guys of nigeria. but you guys aren't you going to guys like the new outside no dream where do you become alice plus i'm going to do what i did. dream where you were going to do waiting outside. yes you got going here i want. this nollywood this is the way we do it and. i call it the good stuff guys let's do this like this. so you know if it's a problem with the about maybe even if it's a struggle and there's a joke in nigeria that you know if you can find someone to give money to your family are you off to somebody's. got thank you god since the success of the wedding party in new nollywood has been producing one romantic comedy after another featuring a huge wedding ceremony the film's a wildly successful in nigeria pocket of. but the movies are not made specifically for the local market they're meant to showcase the nigerian lifestyle and sense of spirit while at the same time telling stories that touch the hearts of people all around the world but we need to start telling universal stories that's what normally would need somebody down if you have to watch your film and understand your plight somebody in japan somebody in china that's storytelling that's the way we used to go because when i was growing up i wanted to be a japanese i wanted to be an american i wanted to be british i think everybody toward want to be larger and that's where i'm making films. cinema culture which almost died out during a particularly tough period for nigeria's economy in the 1980 s. is experiencing a revival it's creating a promising market for technically sophisticated films but so far new normally work has relied almost exclusively on rehashing successful formulas and allows little scope for new ideas real creative innovation might as a result 1st emerge in a different medium the internet is an inexpensive global distribution platform german investor bastion gotter was among the 1st to capitalize on this opportunity . it's got hours ahead for the year and you go a lot of africans outside of nigeria like to watch nollywood films as normally would go. on that's when that's how iraq all got started and funks put in for you will erode co is the name of the company that developed out of distributing a larger market films on you tube culture yoku experienced a sudden turn of fortune by never contacted by a representative of a venture capital firm named tike are global. they come to town but in september 2011 the guy who arrived in la goes. back then not many people came to la goes to invest in internet businesses. so i told the guy sort of small american . boys show me your office boys show me off yeah. we said ok let's go to the market office we had our office there. it was a 10 square meter room with 16 employees all crammed into with. he said interesting show me your numbers. side so we did we were pretty proud of the numbers. we were clearing about $30000.00 profit a month. this interest of things over and said this is interesting we talked for about 45 minutes and then he said ok i'll give you a term sheet. we didn't even know what a term sheet was that's the ask we found out that it is the 1st step towards a concrete investment the next day he sent the term sheet which valued our company at 9000000. and that was just incredible. as video there we were making about $30000.00 a month and that was ok but then this american comes along and says your company is worth $9000000.00 make something of it he said here is 9000000 take another 3 in cash and suddenly the whole thing is worth $12000000.00 all right great let's do it . one yeah. with that kind of money the partners were able to set up one of his most successful media enterprises today iraq gets most of its income from t.v. channels in various african countries as well as in france and england nevertheless the company is betting its future on online streaming. on a rogue video on demand platform users can access around 3000 films according to company figures the site reaches 100000 subscribers divided more or less equally between africa the americas and europe. the worldwide audience gets to see a side of africa fundamentally different from the crisis and disaster written continent shown by western media. hiroko no longer buys its content ready made but has its films produced exclusively for the company at least 3 per week with a budget of around $10000.00 u.s. dollars each. with. daniel emeka already are he is shooting his faith film for iraq o.t.v. the director learned his craft at the nigerian film school. he produces most of his movies in collaboration with his wife. gu who takes on more than one job on sat for production of their next film they have traveled to home village. for my girls the title of the current production is based on true events it tells the story of a girl from a village played by a drummer who dreams of a better life in the big city. an alleged friend takes advantage of her inexperience and lures her into a trap he turns or over to a criminal organization that uses girls for its dirty dealings. the 90 minute feature length film has to be shot in 7 days. we like these kind of challenges we like to be different so with this creates and knowing that the money was not going to have a we had and we need that ok well we're going to deep holes into the family coffers to make this work. is almost horrid and really is missing the. office that we you know. the couple has to come. with a tight budget similar to those of the film crews in a samba about their approach to film is more sophisticated they take a closer look at the reality of life around. you. both of you think i'm supposed to. think you know not on something more but not for the family that's what we do with that's. first afrikan for you but. that's how we are so i don't think we should be any different in the. calls that old me you know what if i'm ok if i thought about. it. that way so yeah i mean this young guy. just my dumb how you just want to be far. off so that's with. you you know. yeah i am. not. a. good. little man. only when he's at that phase where you become mean you structure is becoming again mind is becoming you know this in methods to the madness. i think but we will but. let's. understand the storytelling for what it is easy understanding when leonine audience called cho and all games begin here and that's when i'm in a plane that you know we have if i'm going to film school is the i knew how to handle command any of our. directed lending act in lenny the difference and department in filmmaking people are now going to hold their skills and when all of these come back and in the end these are played gets to that place where we have bastrop showed that you know hollywood has what do we have to look at yes we do we have people we call you what we produce yes we do and that's all you need for an industry to be very. 6 little bit like you go back. but you go. this is the hour you want on. nollywood has been built by people from the heart of nigerian society who know instinctively what moves audiences in that country why don't. they have created an industry that doesn't care much about rules and laws which is its greatest strength and weakness at the same time you nollywood is counting on professionalism and is driven by the economic interests of international investors a purely capitalist venture and yet the development is opening doors for the next generation of nigerian filmmakers now graduating from film academies it is up to them to take advantage of the new distribution channels create movies with artistic vision and initiate a cinematic movement in africa. for a long time films that shape the world's image of africa were largely made by europeans and americans nollywood constitutes a powerful counterweight the pictures it produces may have distortions of their own but as african self portraits they add an essential new dimension to the global flood of images a vast provide a more authentic view of africa. this woman is defining the regime a. fatwah must move has been searching for her husband and son for years both might be victims of syria's secret service know there's a ray of hope suspected henchmen of a sudden are on trial in germany. sunkist on her. for 30 minutes monday douglas. america has become. a range of fire like the feeling mum has been facing. all of us from her home places are still there for the slum slums that consume forests and entire residential areas cluck cluck blazing temperatures water shortages land clearance there's an abundance of flammable material but once again i did. most of the fires mum heavy equipment and colors and is a memorial going up in smoke from the consecration of the world on fire starts aug 12th on g.w. we're half trying to fight it back. and dance with the baby. this is news coming to you live from. leadership faces growing anger. in the wake of the deadly blasts in the capital beirut security forces fired tear gas as protesters outside parliament international donors pledged for rebuilding but demands a top level reforms from what they're. taking all the u.s. . prosecutors want to break up the national rifle association they say millions of dollars. to finance lavish lifestyle.

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