Hollywood you could be in trouble because there is a new circus in town. At least that is what a man by the name of Remy Ohaijanya, the executive chairman of the Actors Guild of Nigeria Lagos Chapter, movie producer and actor in Nigeria believes. He says, “We are growing and in the shortest time, we are going to overtake the world renown or recognized Hollywood, by the way we are going. We are going to make a greater mark.” Those are some pretty ambitious words. In the small poverty and crime stricken country of Nigeria, there is a huge movement of low budget films being made by local Nigerian filmmakers known as “Nollywood.” These films are very low budget compared to Hollywood standards and are often times made in as little as a week. Because the films are funded by independent investors, the desire to have quick production and getting the films into the market as soon as possible are the commonality. According to the reporter from “Hooray Nollywood,” Nigerians don’t go to the movie theaters as much due to the increase in crime. Because of this fear of going to the theaters, the demand for cheap dvds that can be watched at home have also increased. Just like in America there is an actors guild as well as Nigeria’s version of the Academy Awards.
I personally am glad that Nigeria has some of their own directors and filmmakers creating films in Nigeria. I think it is important to have indigenous filmmakers in order to keep authenticity and addressing real issues within a particular country. An indigenous person has personal objective experience as opposed to just reading or learning about a country. Someone who lives in that country can portray a more accurate depiction of life within that country; the same way someone from streets in America can portray life on the streets or a person of a certain race or culture can portray their race or culture. One thing I have learned about Hollywood is that they tend to portray things through the perspective of a white male. That gives us as an audience a look at a particular geographic region through the eyes of a white man, who may not necessarily know the true facts or who changes the facts to make that geographic region look inferior and in need of the United States for redemption. In Hollywood this is a very common theme and it is very common for the United States to be portrayed as the superior country in every way humanly possible that is going to save the poor countries and the world from total destruction. This also happens all the time in other avenues of the media . Because political parties are in control of that media outlet, depictions of life in other countries can be distorted by the media for political reasons. 
I do not intend to turn this into a political paper, but instead make these statements in hopes that these Nigerian filmmakers will stay true to their country and not fall into Hollywood’s formulas for making movies. I was a little bit disturbed about watching Nigeria’s version of the Academy awards and the way their actors were worshipped just like Hollywood stars. My fear is that the Nigerian movie industry will be nothing more than a carbon copy of Hollywood. I hope that they will address issues that need to be addressed in that country and not just make fluff movies that are merely just entertainment or an escape from their everyday lives; even though those are the main reasons why most Americans go to movies. I am sure that many people living in Nigeria need to see movies that are purely entertaining in order to escape their everyday lives. However, for the sake of representing their country to the rest of the world, I hope that at least some of the movies accurately portray real issues of life within their country.
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