Nollywood will take the central stage today at the Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF as Lagos, Nigeria’s entertainment hub and commercial capital will be showcased has been chosen as part of the ‘City to City’ programme.
TIFF each year selects a city, filmmakers living and working there are showcased. Previous featured cities include; London, Mumbai and Seoul, this year eight Nigerian films will be screened.
“Lagos is entirely unique,” said Cameron Bailey the programme curator said in a statement. “The city of Fela Kuti’s music has also given birth to one of the world’s most vibrant film industries.”
“The 1,000 low-budget features ‘Nollywood’ produces each year generate about $1 billion in box office. Now, from that commercial hotbed, a new generation of filmmakers is emerging to both advance and challenge Nollywood.”
For TIFF International Rising Star Somkele Iyamah-Idhalama, global recognition of the world’s second largest film industry has been a long time coming. “It’s about time for Nollywood to start getting the right attention,” the actress told CNN.
“I know our movies get exported, but it almost seemed like it’s because we have (Nigerian) immigrants in different parts of the world. It was still our audience demanding for it. But now a huge film festival like TIFF, this isn’t just Africans in Canada. Now we’ve gotten attention from a major film festival.”
One of the major challenges facing the industry is piracy, rampant due to weak copyright laws and enforcement. According to the World Bank for every legitimate copy of a movie sold, nine are pirated, costing the industry billions in revenue.
Nollywood generates an estimated $600 million a year and is extremely popular at home, but the industry still faces challenges. Nollywood is the second largest film industry in the world.
The Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF has been celebrating the best of international and Canadian cinema for over 40 years, it introduced the City to City programme in 2008. The 41st Toronto International Film Festival runs September 8 to 18, 2016.
