Nollywood: Nigeria's billion dollar film industry

Nigeria’s film industry, known as Nollywood is the second largest film industry in the world and has overtaken Hollywood in terms of the quantity of films produced – with an annual output of over 2,500 films.

In the early 1990s, the industry was infamous for its low budget, low production films – all of which went straight to VHS cassettes and DVDs, with actors and filmmakers often running at a loss.

However the past decade we've seen Nollywood grow exponentially and the industry now dominates streaming platforms across Africa and in the diaspora.

Filmmaker and distributor Moses Babatope tells us local languages and mythical storylines are the secret of Nollywood’s new found success, coupled with improvement in expertise whilst veteran actress Kate Henshaw says the industry has come a long way since she first graced the screen.

Adunni Ade a first time executive producer is of the opinion more can be done to incentivise the growth of the industry and Nigeria’s biggest film producer Kunle Afolayan advocates the need for improvement in production capacity.

Presenter / producer: Peter MacJob Image: Actors on set; Credit: Adunni Ade