Nollywood

Nollywood, a portmanteau of Nigeria and Hollywood, is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry.

[2][3] Due to the history of evolving meanings and contexts, there is no clear or agreed-upon definition for the term, which has made it a subject of several controversies.

The origin of the term "Nollywood" remains unclear; Jonathan Haynes traced the earliest usage of the word to a 2002 article by Matt Steinglass in the New York Times, where it was used to describe Nigerian cinema.

He further stated that "the historical trajectory of Nollywood started since the pre and post independent Nigeria, with the theatrical (stage) and cinematic (celluloid) efforts of the likes of Chief Hubert Ogunde, Chief Amata, Baba Sala, Ade Love, Eddie Ugbomah and a few others".

The term has also been used for Nigerian/African diaspora films considered to be affiliated with Nigeria or made specifically to capture the Nigerian audience.

This leads to the paradox where some of the most popular and beloved actors in Nollywood like Patience Ozokwor (Mama G), Chinedu Ikedieze and Osita Iheme (Aki and Pawpaw), Nkem Owoh (Osuofia), John Okafor (Mr. Ibu) who are ethnically Igbo, but have mostly acted in English language movies.

Practitioners like Ola Balogun, Duro Ladipo and Adeyemi Afolayan (Ade Love) played a significant role when they came out with "Ajani Ogun" in 1976.

This film was one of the few huge successes that helped put the Yoruba-language cinema on the map, and it was followed by other productions by Hubert Ogunde and others.

[12] One of the first blockbusters from Nigeria, came from the Yoruba language industry; a notable example is Mosebolatan (1985) by Moses Olaiya which grossed ₦107,000 (approx.

Veterans like Dalhatu Bawa and Kasimu Yero pioneered drama productions that became popular with the Northern audience.

Over the years the term Nollywood has also been used to refer to other affiliate film industries, such as the Ghanaian English-language cinema.

Furthermore, over the years, due to the high cost of film production in Nigeria, Nigerian filmmakers have been forced to make films outside Lagos in order to cut costs, mirroring the exodus of filmmaking in Hollywood from Los Angeles to cities like Toronto and Albuquerque, a phenomenon known as runaway production.

Several other producers, as a result, started shooting in cities like Accra, Ghana, channeling the savings into investing in better equipment, many of them trying to get their films onto the big screen.

[27][28][29] Alex Eyengho had noted in a 2012 article that the term "Nollywood" was absent during the formative years of both the video film era and the Golden Age.

[7] Seun Apara, in his article on 360Nobs.com stated: "It's either the promoters of the event didn't do their research well or intentionally do not want to reckon with history".

[9] In another interview, he stated: "If Nollywood is the name that people decide to call the movie industry in Nigeria, then I am part of it.