The New Nollywood

What is the ‘New Nollywood’? We have heard this term used frequently over the last couple of years; as social media hash tags, in random conversation, even in the promotion of certain Nollywood films and we are forced to ask the question what is the ‘New Nollywood’?

Is it defined by new knowledge of film production? Improvement in the quality of equipment used? Technical know-how?

Or is it in the nature of the stories told; is Banana Island Ghost more ‘New Nollywood’ than 93 days because it had better cinematography or is 93 days a better movie because it told an authentic Nigerian story beautifully as opposed to the unrelatable story in Banana Island Ghost?

Is the ‘New Nollywood’ defined by the popularity and star power of the cast, as we see in AY’s 10 Days in SunCity or Toyin Abraham’s Alakada Reloaded.

Do all of these factors; technical, story plot, star power and business politics all play important factors in molding this ‘New Nollywood’? If that is the case what parameters control the power of one factor over another?

How is our culture interacting with this change? Or better yet, is capitalizing on our culture the only way to bring this change? We have seen Rok, Africa Magic, Iroko, and Ebony Life go down the route of telling traditional African stories; do they know something we don’t?

We have even been  forced to question if the ‘New Nollywood’ is defined by the frequency of production, do two big high earning cinema movies a year make a production house more ‘New Nollywood’ than another? Is Ebony Life more ‘New Nollywood’ than Rok Studios because of their cinema success as opposed to Rok’s quantity?

Does the future of the ‘New Nollywood’ lie in Reality Tv? (Linda Ikeji is about to educate us on this) Does Reality Tv even qualify as being Nollywood?

Is branding and distribution choice a determining factor in what qualifies as ‘New Nollywood’? If it is who determines what is hip and what isn’t? Do Asaba and Alaba have any chance in this ‘New Nollywood’? How important is social media hype in defining ‘New Nollywood’?

Is ‘New Nollywood’ about passion and the spirit of film making as opposed to those who just see it as a job for a quick buck? This wouldn’t make any sense because it would be impossible to know people’s innermost thoughts and intentions.

All these questions may be irrelevant, this could all just be an issue of age, ‘New Nollywood’ = Young, or maybe not. One thing is for sure, only time would tell and we would be here, watching, igniting conversation and hearing your thoughts 😉