[Reader-list] Nigeria surpasses Hollywood

[Monica Narula]

Date: Tue, 5 May 2009 19:00:17 -0400
From: UNNews <UNNews at un.org>
____________

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
Monica Narula
Raqs Media Collective
Sarai-CSDS
www.raqsmediacollective.net
www.sarai.net