[ASU] NEWS: Nigeria surpasses Hollywood as world's second largest film producer - UN

[Basetsana Maposa]

____________

NIGERIA SURPASSES HOLLYWOOD AS WORLD’S SECOND LARGEST FILM PRODUCER – UN
New York, May  5 2009  7:00PM

The Nigerian film industry has overtaken Hollywood and closed the gap
on India, the global leader in the number of movies produced each
year, according to a new United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization
(<"http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=45317&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html">UNESCO)
report released today.

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.

“Film and video production are shining examples of how cultural
industries, as vehicles of identity, values and meanings, can open the
door to dialogue and understanding between peoples, but also to
economic growth and development,” said UNESCO Director-General
Koïchiro Matsuura.

“This new data on film and video production provides yet more proof of
the need to rethink the place of culture on the international
political agenda,” he added.

The three cinema heavyweights were followed by eight countries that
produced more than 100 films: Japan (417), China (330), France (203),
Germany (174), Spain (150), Italy (116), South Korea (110) and the
United Kingdom (104).

Key to Nollywood’s explosive success is Nigerian filmmakers’ reliance
on video instead of film, reducing production costs, and, as the
survey points out, the West African country has virtually no formal
cinemas, with about 99 per cent of screenings in informal settings,
such as home theatres.

The survey also revealed that about 56 per cent of Nollywood films are
made in local languages, while English remains a prominent language,
accounting for 44 per cent, which may contribute to Nigeria’s success
in exporting its films.

According to the study, US movies continue to dominate cinema
admissions around the world, and all of the top ten films seen in
Australia, Bulgaria Canada, Costa Rica, Namibia, Romania, and Slovenia
were US made.
________________

For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news



-- 
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is
that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness
that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant,
gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?
--Marianne Williamson--