#6. Welcome to Nollywood (2007)

DVD Synopsis: Welcome to Nollywood provides a fascinating look into the newly emerging Nigerian Film Industry, exploring the inner workings and introducing viewers to Nollywood’s passionate auteurs. Through clips and on-set visits, we meet Chico Ejiro, aka “Mr. Prolific”, a filmmaker who has made over a hundred films. We follow the production of an epic war film by Izu Ojukwu, a young Nollywood director who is known for his high intensity action films. Both directors battle limited budgets, frequent power outages, mutinous casts, and none of the infrastructure that supports other national cinemas. Welcome to Nollywood takes a celebratory and often humorous look at this unique phenomenon that is transforming cinema in Africa and worldwide.





I love films about film, documentaries that take us behind the scenes to detail the struggles and hardships filmmakers must endure to get their vision to the big screen. 

What’s amazing about Welcome to Nollywood is that it throws a spotlight on a national cinema that's still in its infancy; the Nigerian Film Industry. Sure, the movies they’re making (almost all of which are released direct to video in Nigeria) look as if they may be a little rough around the edges, but I'd love the chance to check a few of them out. The filmmakers’ determination to see every project through, regardless of how many times the power goes out, or that the catering service hasn’t shown up to feed their hungry crew, is inspiring, and I’m absolutely convinced, without having ever seen one of these movies, that this sense of determination will have a profound effect on each and every one of their finished films.