Nollywood

We used to get MNET on our cable system (it disappeared last week ...they are readjusting their channels again).

So one would expect the African film industry to be centered in South Africa, which has had a film industry for years and has produced high quality films that are equal to any Hollywood production, from The Gods must be Crazy to District nine.

But while investigating an unrelated story on the internet, I ran into this article, on Christianity Today, about the film industry in "Nollywood" which produces many low budget DVD films with Christian themes...indeed, half the films are by Christian film studios.

List of films HERE.

The interesting thing is that, unlike Hollywood, which continues to use cameras and film, the locals are making movies using digital cameras and then marketing them directly via DVD.

and the UN claims that Nigeria is the second largest film producer in the world.

According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) survey, Bollywood – as the Mumbai-based film industry is known – produced 1,091 feature-length films in 2006. In comparison, Nigeria’s moviemakers, commonly known as Nollywood, came out with 872 productions – all in video format – while the United States produced 485 major films.

BBC article HERE, with feedback saying: We love the films because they mirror our lives, but others saying they lack production values and a decent story.

TIME has photos of Nollywood Stars

this has nothing to do with Zimbabwe, but shows that if prosperity returns, that this is another business that Zim could encourage.