Last year, thanks to the premiere of Hell’s Ground at Fantasia, there was a bit of talk around these parts about Lollywood which refers to the Pakistani film industry based in Lahore. Hot on the heels of that introduction comes news of yet another growing film industry: Nollywood.

Said to be the world’s third largest film industry, Nollywood refers to the booming film industry of Nigeria. Though only 15 years old, it already produces over 2,000 films a year, most under $10,000, the majority of which are small, handheld shot affairs which are produced over a period of a few days.

On the surface, it sounds like the kind of thing that one would expect from kids playing with cameras but a recent TED Talk by Zambia-born filmmaker Franco Sacchi, brought up a couple of interesting points about this growing industry. There are people in Nigeria who still live on a dollar a day and they can’t be bothered or aren’t interested in Hollywood films. They want to see people like them on screen and the industry has grown to primarily fill the want and need of the poor of the country. Something else that caught my attention was the mention that because these films are produced so quickly, they can be used to spread and share information. The first thought that came to mind is that these films act as sort of “live” newspapers, disseminating information: not everyone can read but everyone can watch a movie; I’m not sure that’s how the woman meant it but that’s what I took from the comment.

While researching the industry a bit more, I stumbled on a few interesting tidbits. First and foremost, the National Film Board has co-produced a documentary called Nollywood Bollywood which looks at the booming film industry in Nigeria. There’s a trailer for the film, which I’ve tucked under the seat, but no official release date yet.

Also worth mentioning is that the industry appears to be spreading quickly and widely and the UK even has a Nollywood Movies TV Channel. And if you’re looking for even more information, another great resource for the industry is Nollywood.com which features trailers and short clips for some of the films.

Happy discovery!

Trailer for Nollywood Bollywood tucked under the seat!