This is the address delivered by the late Amaka Igwe, during the maiden edition of The Net Conference, held last year.
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, my due respect to everyone. I want to thank the organisers for inviting me and I want to kill Chris Ihidero for leaking my secret which is that I will not apologize about being a commercial film maker. This issue came up when people started dividing, you know we have been through films for aesthetics, you know film for this and that and I said I do mine to make money. I have got bills to pay, my children are in school and that is what I have done right from the days of Checkmate because I come from a real business background. I want to make something very clear and I said I will say it because since the past how many weeks there has been an argument about whether I am Nollywood or not, I am in the fringes because I do not do guild activities anymore. I can count for the last, I’m in a minimum of three of the guilds and Nollywood is in Surulere so if you are not in the hoot, then you are not Nollywood and these are loving pictures I stole from my friend, this one about the slippers, that one looks like Ibinabo shoes but you can see that is American, Hollywood, that’s Indian and the other one I know what they think it is. But the good thing is that Britain is not there, China is not there, Europe is not there, even France that claim they created it, they are not there. And that is because, that is what we are. They say we have created an industry based on shoe strings and this is part of what they use in yabbing us. I’m putting it up so that there is no avoidance of doubt but of course, you know that Nollywood is a name by which the Nigerian industry has been promoted in the world in the past fifteen years, as coined by the Washington post journal but the good thing about what they keep saying is that the industry thrives in its originality and non-conformity approach to film making ; its traditionally adapting to wide range of economic challenges within the operating system, we didn’t wait for cameras that are more expensive or even the labs before we started making films coping with no NEPA like when people come to train, they say the audio of Nigerian Film Industry is this and that and I tell them, try to shoot a film with I better pass my neighbour and tell me whether your own training can match that of ours. Nollywood seeks to be inventive and innovative in its entire practice even if we don’t know how to use the edit suites, we have been able to make fire come out of the mouth of people like Patrick Doyle and we have put some people inside bottle like RMD so we have tried very well. Nollywood seeks to entertain a mass audience in search of more socio- cultural relevant stories; that is what we do. We are not telling stories about explosions of bridges or the destruction of the White house. Try and shoot that you destroyed Aso rock and see where you will be. We tell socially relevant stories like what the witchcraft favour has done and if you think that is not true, why should the baby die and the witch cried in the night and they are not linking the two together? Of course, we have to have a link, that’s who we are. Even when a woman dies at 88, somebody says the enemies have done their worst. At 88! Does she want to live forever? I mean those are the things that bother Nigerians and that is what we are telling. The industry defies technology impacts of its operation. It appears to thrive best in rough economic time that is what we have been able to do; that is the Nollywood I belong to. It is a global movement; it is not just in Nigeria and definitely not in Surulere. So, I don’t care if you have Kannywood, Savawood, whatever wood you are, Gollywood, Riverwood so far you are there you are Nollywood and indefinitely I do not apologize for it. Now a brief history because you say it’s my reflection, this argument has gone on, how did Nollywood start? I just want to say it quickly that when government decided to ban the cinema thing in Nigeria they did more harm than good because people who were there who encouraged the banning were not able to fill up the gap so the cinema culture died and of course the people who were ready to fill in the gap do not know what Nigeria film should be. They were copying Indian, Chinese anyhow and most of them were trained by the French and the French believe only the rich people should make films. So, okay people like us who were not trained in France were not allowed to make films. They do not understand the Nigerian audience at all and of course, they fail to fill the gap. That was when TV started thriving and of course it was only NTA with enjoyed Monopoly, funding everything and of course a lot of Nigerian Art work moved in: Ripples, Cock Crow at Dawn, Samanja, Village Headmaster, all of that. It was bubbling and of course they stopped making films in celluloid, they started making films in videos. But the crazy thing was that independence was born around that time people started making soaps that was in the days of Mirror in the sun. We saw it, Ripples came up, Checkmate and a lot of talents grew. A lot of people wanted to make these films but because of monopoly in NTA there was a problem. We could not just make a soap and get airtime without getting sponsorship which is also an issue so people were making so many films. Around the same time there was a revolution – the VHS came up and of course, Nigerians could not buy videos, their video machines and all and of course there was nothing to watch apart from Sound of Music and the power of China and India and all of that and of course, our leaders very indigenous decide to put films on those particular tapes and one of such people was Kenneth Nnebue of Living in Bondage and of course around that same time another great thing happened, Nigerian television decided to ban their members from acting inside the films and most of them left . They imported Mexican soaps to replace like Checkmate and again they do not understand the audience. Now with a population that loves the soaps disenfranchised by a dejected, unmotivated NTA work force, a TV population of people who wanted to express themselves on television, traders looking for how to sell their black tapes, Kenneth Nnebue put together Living in Bondage using all this and made that particular one. As for me, that was when Nollywood was constituted in Nigeria. There is a lot of argument about people making film before then, even Kenneth made films before that time. I will also argue that Mike Oriyeridimma was making films in Onitsha; also some films were being made in Edo state. But this particular movement as we know it was started from that time that Living in Bondage took on both television stars, television producers and made that first film Living in Bondage which gave birth to quite a number of films. People consumed Living in Bondage. Ken made a lot of millions, people wanted a piece of the action, a lot of the so-called professionals said they had a lot of conference concerning the film but the traders were selling it. Everybody became a filmmaker and like the world would say it- To God be the glory, whether the film was good, bad or ugly- To God be the glory. That was how we used to end our films in those days. Okay, people embraced it, a lot of the professionals were very jealous, government was indifferent; T.V ignored it- they did not just know that they were battling for their audience. The Yoruba film industry I must say remained consistent they were doing their travelling theatre and they continued the way it was. Some professionals saw the future and joined it. Financial institutions did not feel it, academic institution had the same but people invaded it overnight. Film makers showed up and lines like: ‘I have a script’, ‘Excuse me ma, I have a script’. And some traders say to some film makers: ‘nna, my line is not working any more., bayem na line’. That is, put me in this new line. Everybody wanted to make film which is good because film is a language that has something to do or say and even technology is helping. You can shoot films with your phone now. My sister bought a new phone for her ordination and I said have you started using the phone she said no but it is a fantastic camera. Of course I joined I already had a production company which was making soaps and making a lot of money but I needed to learn film, its aesthetics, its business, its technology and its future which is part of what I am reflecting today. We invested in training, a lot of it, we chased technology each one that came out we bought. We developed our business model around Bollywood and Hollywood because we didn’t think we needed to re- invent the wheel – they have done it already. We just followed what they did. We knew we had to talk about government involvement, policy, infrastructure, better distribution in order to reduce piracy. Industry involvement had to do with training, National guild system, international exposure, building structure for the future of course, that was the total failure and I put on the blame on the doorstep of Gabosky, Justus Esiri of blessed memory and quite a number of us who failed to implement those things that we knew were necessary for this industry to thrive and of course all of us. Of course the T.V producers that made money outside sponsorship, that was the boom time. They could afford the better things of life. They became extremely popular and celebrated locally and internationally, courtesy of the press who were praising us to high heavens. Of course we have paid for some of those praises. In one page in one newspaper you see: Amaka Igwe’s ‘Violated’ is the best film ever. Next on the column Zeb Ejiro’s ‘Total desire’ is out of this world. Of course we ceased to develop our art because we were busy making money because the audience loved us. We took the market for granted but at a longer growth it was a profit for the electronic dealers who wanted more money; they settle their boys and send them free. So they all entered the market and there were more marketers on the field. They wanted another share of the profit; they decided to protect their interest and all the glories was going to the producers so they too became film maker and again to God be the glory. That was the boom. But again, there was a ripple effect. Let’s look at it seriously now, we have 24 good CDs getting to 150 cinemas all around; we have 119 TV stations, 8 exclusive Nollywood station courtesy of African Magic, Hi Nolly and all of them. Even the Chinese have created one right now. We have over 1million retail point although nobody knows where they are, barbers shops, containers, buses, on the streets, anything anybody is using to sell video on the street. Advertising regularly for Radios and TV, I remember the focus group that just happened. There was an argument between the marketers and the producers and they asked the marketers give us the figures for Figurine in the market they don’t know, they can’t know, they won’t tell us. Go to Zanzibar and find out what they watch there, the remote part of Africa, of course there is cultural impacts I make bold to say that we affected the music industry. We were the ones that taught them how to make music on their keyboards. They started making music for us to put on our movies so people became bold and started making music. They were singing and they were good songs. For ‘Rattle Snake’, for instance, we made three songs and people were buying it. Maybe not the one Chocolate City will buy but people were buying it and everybody was making music. There was aesthetic expression, social, cultural and so much. Local actors are now brand ambassador and they are making N15 million, some N70, million and not giving the producers. And we were busy fighting ourselves. The economy of course if you look at those figures you will know the economy has been affected. But I can tell you something this is not reflected anywhere in government books. Because majority of these films are in the hands of the pirates. If you doubt it, ask David Zubar when he was going release his film, the pirates told him we give you one week and for that pay me N500, 000 and he paid but within three days, they said your one week is up. Look at the industry players, look at people we have affected with what we are doing. The industry has affected a lot of people. Now in reversal we are busy celebrating the phenomena we forgot to build. Government came, started inviting people to Abuja and when they say ‘take this for your trouble’ so, everybody wanted to go to Abuja because of take ‘this for your trouble’ ‘takes this for coming’. And the faithful audience is taking for granted. They now have films from part one to eight. Technology has changed, VCD came in so the whole black tape problem became an issue, because now you cannot just bring it out, you have to pay for repetition ‘wahala burst’. So when you are to get your CDs, you have money for at least 5,000 copies. No wonder we have 82% piracy in the movie industry. Of course foreign interest came. They were taking us around the world to talk about it and we were selling it to them and taking cash for honours, TV resurgence and deregulation. Of course the tyranny of the association, I told you, instead of facing the issues of professionalism the association became a monster as far as I am concerned. I quarreled with Ejike Asiegbu when J.T Tom West died. I said that guy has no business being on the road by 1 if there was proper association policy. He should have been in that place at that time; you have to have an ID card. If you have an accident and the car somersaulted and what ever happened there was nobody to sign. There was no insurance; there was no blood group no information about the guy. No ID card…this is what the guild should be doing not chasing after money, that is not what a professional guild is supposed to be. The guild is different from an association. An association can do whatever they like but a guild must protect the interest of its members, make sure they have work , make sure they have welfare, how then do you know you are a member of a guild when you are not benefiting anything from what you are doing. The banks came; they dictate the quality versus the quantity debate which does matter, that is what we are saying. Most professionals have gone back to other business; film politics, somebody said he is a film politician. People are now saying this, I know some people who have gone into the bend down business. And we have created so many like me and Zeb who are doing other businesses. The guild is an association that is looking for what they are supposed to say because they don’t understand what they are supposed to do. The government of course is intervening,-’Come to Abuja we want to open a filling station’, ‘Come to Abuja we want to do that’. So that is how they intervene. Research work is on-going because as at the last time, there are over 400 bibliographies on this same Nollywood done by Oyinbo people. Africa Magic is prospering, creating more channels while some people have taken over by doing five in one, ten in one of Nigeria saying distribution of course is inadequate. Television is booming once again. What do I think is the future? This our model is on the move and it is travelling fast- Kenya, Uganda, Senegal, Tanzania all over the world people are doing, taking what we have created and doing it better. The movie industry; it is time for a linear growth. Let’s forget the celebration, let’s grow. The growth should be driven by infrastructure required to service the existing market and the new markets which are developing. We need to restructure the guild or the guild needs to look at what other guilds elsewhere are doing, check what other guilds do for their people. Nollywood should be ready to make a move in film-making skills and techniques. They can’t keep on making excuses. We should also look at using our power and skills for modern and historical documentation, education and cultural preservation in Nigeria. It is our duty whether we like it or not – what we are putting out is what the world thinks about Nigeria. When Charles and I traveled recently, when he said his name was Igwe, they started bowing to him. You are a Prince or something. He said it’s my name; they said it’s a lie – Igwe means Prince. This is in faraway South Africa and that is courtesy of Nollywood. And especially my people, the Igbo people who don’t understand they are selling their culture: the good, the bad and the ugly. We should look at the impacts that it will have on this modern day, that is Nollywood. Okay this is what I believe. The new breeds are coming, the banks are funding, distribution is on the front, and everybody is talking distribution. Some people said every money given to Nollywood should be given as grants to people who are ready to fund distribution- cinemas, the viewing centres, retails and what have you. Government is beginning to because many people have told them outside Nigeria. So now they can hear because people have told them. Technology favours the Nigerian film maker; it does because we do with what we have. I believe the future is Nollywood. Thank you very much.
Source: The NET
Source: The NET
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