By Ogova Ondego
Published November 4, 2012
Nigeria has gained recognition in the world more for her films than anything else. This, says Patricia Pauline Bala, acting Director-General of the National Film and Video Censors Board, gives Nigeria a “most formidable weapon”with which to position the country as well as define the strategic heritage of Africa in the world arena.
Speaking in Edinburgh, Scotland, on October 31, 2012, Bala said, “No other realm of endeavour by Nigerians has so strategically and so profoundly conveyed the value, character and promise of the nation than the film medium. It is in recognition of this that the National Film and Video Censors Board conceptualised the Nigeria in the Movies project as a strategic platform to recognise the potential available in movies and to celebrate the core Nigerian heritage”.
So far, Bala said during the screening of Maami”a film directed and produced by Tunde Kelani in 2011 at Africa in Motion Scotland African Film Festival”Nigeria in the Movies has held international road shows in London (2010) and Nairobi (2011) that had attracted international attention to Nollywood and “leveraged on the opportunities open to our filmmakers and distributors to establish marketing channels for their products and created avenues for steady earning of foreign exchange.”
RELATED: Spiritualising Sexuality Leads to Infidelity at the Work Place
Saying Nigeria loses US$1 Billion annually just in the UK, Bala said “The immediate benefits that accrue from our road shows are pronounced visibility of Nollywood, building of regulatory and business alliances with the United Kingdom and other African counterparts, lift the standard of the industry that has seen rapid growth in the last 10 years and plug areas of leakage through piracy.”
The 2012 road show took place in the Scottish cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow between October 25 and November 2.
