How Nigeria's Nollywood is still dominating the African movie scene

Ask an avid African movie watcher to name ten of their favorite African actors and you would be assured of getting more half of those names belonging to Nigerian actors. Obviously Nigerian movies and actors have dominated the African movie scene and this piece is to shed some light on why that is the case.

As an African myself who is originally from Ghana, I have chosen to compare the Nigerian movie industry to that of Ghana's, bear in mind that the differences and similarities I will be talking about will be evident across a lot of African countries, yet I have chosen to narrow my comparisons down to ongoings in the Ghana/Nigeria movie industries.

Ghanaians, like many other Africans in respective countries across the African continent have acquired a strong taste for Nigerian movies and thanks to the local television networks in Ghana, this strong craving for Nigerian movies is properly satisfied since the television networks do this to have a strong and continual viewer-ship. Nigerian names belonging to actors like Ramzy Noah, Genevieve Nnaji, Patience Ozorkor, Uchie Jumbo, Desmond Elliot, Jim Iyke, Rita Dominic are far more familiar to movie watchers in Ghana and other African countries than one would find elsewhere.

I’m not a big fan of Nigerian movies, yet it was easy for me to write down the actors' names without struggling to extract them from my memory and I must confess that I'll find some difficulties if I were asked to do same for Ghanaian actors or actresses not for the fact that I've been away from home for the past couple years, but for the simple reason that the Nigerian movie industry, also known as Nollywood, continually churns out movies that are shown all over the continent which puts their actors constantly in the news headlines. This goes to show the huge popularity and following that Nigerian actors, actresses and movies enjoy across the African continent.

I must say I am happy for Nigeria and the great work it is doing for the African movie industry through Nollywood, yet I strongly feel Ghana is also in a good position to share in this limelight as are other countries. As I sit here to write, I fondly recall the likes of veterans in the Ghana movie industry such as Fred Amugi, Emmanuel Armah, Augustine Abbey, Grace Omaboe, Grace Nortey and a whole host of others who gave me a reason to love Ghanaian movies as I was growing up back in the early 80s and 90s in Ghana. So my question here is, since movie productions never ended in Ghana after the likes of these greats, how come Ghanaian movie followers today, especially the young ones, can not find enough inspiration from their local actors and movies that will be enough to make them take pride in their movies and movie industry?

One can not deny the fact that the past couple years have seen the Ghanaian movie industry grow vibrantly with some interesting productions, despite the limitations many local Ghanaian producers suffer. Two such producers who are churning out high quality productions that can equal their Nigerian counterparts and hold their own anywhere are Shirley Frimpong-Manso and Abdul Salaami. These two are doing the country some seriously good work and I hope am not the only one noticing that.

Miss Frimpong-Manso, after years of keenly observing the Ghanaian movie industry by remaining in a movie drought for a while, came out with her first production in early 2008 which she called ‘Life and Living It.’ It was a major talk of the town and she received huge praises for her work. Shirley has followed up with other equally good productions, with a popular one being ‘A Sting in A Tale’. Shirley has however been criticized mainly for her over reliance on the same characters for almost all of her productions.

Personally, I feel that if these actors get the job done properly, why rock the boat, especially when there aren't that many good actors readily available to pick from? Watching some old movies from Ghana brings back fond memories of enjoying quality Ghanaian films as I was growing up back home in Ghana. Films like 'Heritage Africa', 'Love Brewed in An African Pot' and the good old 'I Told You So' from over three decades back give me hope that with people like Shirley Frimpong-Manso, Abdul Salaami and other hard working Ghanaian movie makers, the movie industry in Ghana has a bright future.

All good things come at a cost and I will be the first to admit that to make high quality movies, there must be a strong financial investment from all parts involved. This lack of or willingness to financially invest in movies is what has been a major setback to the African movie industry, the exact opposite is what accounts for Nigeria's Nollywood success in Africa. Lack of financial to me must still not be an excuse the mediocre productions that have swarmed the movie making industry in some African counties.

Lack of financial assistance has nailed the ambitions of most people who are placed to produce quality movies for the Ghanaian market, the need for good writing and story lines and above all the art of acting in itself must be taken more seriously not only in Ghana, but across the African continent. That said, credit must be given to where it is due, and it is in this vein that I wish to bow my head in admiration to great Ghanaian actors like Van Vicker, Majid Michel, Chris Attoh, John Dumelo, Nadia Buari, Jackie Appiah, Yvonne Nelson, Nana Ama Macbrown, Juliet Ibrahim and Agya Koo among a whole host of others.

Corporate organizations in today's Ghana are very hesitant when it comes to investing their monies into movies. According to them it does not profit much and so many of them who reluctantly chose to be sticking their feet into such a soil are careful not to attract as much mud on their feet when they pull them out. The market size for the sale of movies in Ghana is relatively small and many movies in Ghana including foreign ones, are pirated and this is something that hurts the movie industry across Africa a lot.

The story in Nigeria is different. Producers over there attract far more support and pay their actors/actresses very handsomely. Nigerian actors are not only popular in names but their pay cheques are huge--far better and almost unfair in comparison with the meagre rations Ghanaian actors make--corporate organizations and individuals in Nigeria front the corridors of movie producers with their sponsorship packages. Movie production is a good publicity platform, especially for those billionaires sitting on huge oil money who are constantly competing with colleagues for personal accolades.

Nollywood, the Nigerian movie industry as is known around the world is a serious publicity venue. It is almost a tradition to see the props after every single Nigerian movie containing the names of ‘chiefs’ and the likes though I must confess not all of such Nigerian productions with big backing bucks really make the cut. But with a nation of over a hundred million people, even a substandard production has the power to sell enough to make a producer smile all the way to the bank so yes, there's also strength in numbers my friends. Virtually speaking, on a daily basis especially on Television networks like Mnet and other big ones in Africa, the number of Nigerian movies shown is amazing and the fact that that country is one of the populous and biggest in Africa goes to tell a long story.

Where quality is compromised for the numbers game, the need for high quality production in Ghana and other African countries becomes a MUST if the African movie industry is to share in the glory of Nollywood! It must however be mentioned that Ghanaians are also guilty of some substandard productions and in the past couple years some Ghanaian movies have just been too ridiculous. Praise must however be given where it is due because some productions on both sides of the divide have simply been wonderful too.

My advice to the movie industry on the African content is that it must pay much attention to fine details like purposeful directing, correct sub-titling, good editing, proper sound, good costume, enticing story lines, good acting and a lot more if it wants to keep making movies that holds a viewer's interest.

We as Ghanaians need to respect what is our own and give meaning and support to it, charity as they say begins at home but quality as I say begins with hard work so lets wait and see whether there are going to be more Shirley Frimpong-Mansos to prop up the slow rise in the movie industry in Ghana. I will be closely watching and waiting to see how things go in Africa and Ghana in particular and no I didn't forget to mention the name Peter Mensah, one of Africa's greatest acting sons to have come out of Ghana, look him up here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Mensah This guy has a lot of achievements under his belt and is highly respected in both Nollywood and Hollywood too.

Oral Ofori, +1202-706-9881, oralofori@gmail.com, Freelance Writer ( www.oralofori.blogspot.com), Broadcaster, Retail Specialist, Music Promoter, Artiste. http://about.me/oralofori/