The controversies that trailed the 20 years celebration of the Nigerian film industry called Nollywood' in 2013 have refused to die down. Many stakeholders have continued to question the name 'Nollywood' and the 20 years tag put as the life span of the now nose-diving industry.

Drums were rolled out to celebrate Nollywood at 20. It was 20 years after a movie, Living In Bondage, was released on VHS, which changed the face of the industry and gave it a big bang.

Many veterans, especially those in the Yoruba part of the industry, have rejected the claim that the industry is only 20 years old when the likes of Hubert Ogunde, Ade Love, Baba Sala and others had been in the industry as far back in the 50s.

In this regard, a group of progressive members of the Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (ANTP), led by Yomi Fabiyi, is moving to coin a name for the industry to be known as 'Naiwood'. The group claims that this name will truly represent all the stakeholders, and will be devoid of tribal dichotomy, which the group said the present 'Nollywood' encourages and represents.

In a chat with Nigeriafilms.com, Yomi Fabiyi stated that those who said the film industry is 20 years old are only trying to cut off some people away from the industry, despite their contributions to filmmaking in Nigeria, before the 'Living In Bondage' days.

Earlier in his message to Nigeriafilms.com, which was later sent out as a broadcast on BlackBerry, Yomi said, "If the acronym for their movie industry means they started two decades ago, perhaps there was no one producing (movies) amongst them in the last 21 years.

"We inherited film making, we had legendary filmmakers in Nigeria before then. [We] can't fold our arms and watch then sweep under the carpet [the effort of our veterans] with an acronym (Nollywood).

"That acronym NOLLYWOOD is not acceptable by us, if it represents 20 years. We've films shot in Nigeria 60, 50 and 40 years ago on celluloid (the biggest filming standard in the world before digital celluloid) irrespective of the quantity then.

"Home video is just another means of distributing films. In an unjust society where inequality, tribalism, sentiment is the order of the day, SILENCE IS A SIN.

"We wish to set the record straight, film making started in Nigeria 70 years ago.

"NAIJA (Nigeria) is a film, football and oil country. Nigerian movie industry - NAIWOOD, is the right name for the right naija film history.

"We the Progressives in ANTP of the movie industry, irrespective of tribe and religion, wish to be referred with that acronym henceforth, and we mean every word of it.

Signed YOMI FABIYI."

culled from >> http://www.nigeriafilms.com/news/24816/24/group-moves-to-rename-nollywood-as-naiwood.html

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1- What was the name of the film industry in Nigeria before it was named Nollywood?
2- The bone of contention here is "the genesis of film" industry in Nigeria. How will a change of name be the remedy?

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The name “Nollywood” was invented by a non-Nigerian, first appearing in an article by Matt Steinglass in the New York Times in 2002. Reference

booked, i dey come back abeg.

All dis sentiments are just d product of tribalism..may God help us in dis country..BTW, Nollywood celebratin only 20yrs is very absurd when d likes of baba sala, oyin adejobi, ogunde, afolayan, ray-eyinwumi et al has bin makin waves before 70's.. Even pa-james(ajirebi) joined d industry in d early 80's

Lol. But why naiWOOD. They might as well put another word instead of WOOD. Them dey craze.

take out the wood.

They should work on improving the quality of their movies instead of renaming the industry.I don't see anything wrong in Nollywood.

must the wood stay?

and whats the meaning of nolly.

I just don't get the reasoning behind the name change. Does 20 years of Nollywood mean that the first Nigerian movie was shot 20 years ago? How old is Hollywood?...does it mean no movie was shot before Hollywood? I can see that Niwood or whatever would be a dismal failure since the focus is not on quality movies.

whether nollywood or naiwood, all i see is that we're still in the WOODS!

WELL WELL WELL WELL. *Sighs*

Please no one should even try to rename Nollywood, they will spoil the brand . If they are not comfortable with the name, they should just kukuma remove it totally and lets have 'Nigerian Film Industry'.....SIMPLES!

And 20 years Nollywood celebration has been a joke from the onset.
And the popular BS of 'Living in Bondage' breaking whatever barrier is an illusion. But what do we expect in a country where History is neither well documented nor even taught in high schools? Do these guys even know that the popular movie titled 'Rise and fall of Idi-Amin' (which was shot on celluloid and was distributed internationally) is a British/Nigerian Co-production? Then they tell me a Home video that practically launched the crap in the industry today gave the industry a big break? JOKE. A big break to what exactly? The industry was already doing well and was on the right cause. I personally think, 'Living In Bondage' derailed the industry rather than give any break. We are still trying to fix the chaos 'Living in Bondage' caused till this day! .


If you will quote me, make sure you say something sensible, or else I will abuse you before I give you a brain

speedyboi: Do these guys even know that the popular movie titled 'Rise and fall of Idi-Amin' (which was shot on celluloid and was distributed internationally) is a British/Nigerian Co-production?

I had no idea about that; I thought it was just Britian and Kenya.

I do agree with the rest. I think the issue is this... 'Nollywood' is 20 yrs old; fair enough for some, however, people forget that the 'Nigerian Film Industry', which has existed for a long time, is much, much older. They 'really' are two different things IMO.

PS: Naiwood is a really stu.pid name.

VillageBoi: I think the issue is this... 'Nollywood' is 20 yrs old; fair enough for some, however, people forget that the 'Nigerian Film Industry', which has existed for a long time, is much, much older. They 'really' are two different things IMO.

Then why didn't they define it? Nollywood is already known as merely a colloquial name for 'Nigerian Movie Industry'.
If they wanna define it sef, so what exactly will Nollywood be that will make it 20 years?
1. The name Nollywood itself came about in the 2000s to refer to the Nigeria Movie Industry. So can we say Nollywood is just 12 years? No! Why? Because....the fact that the name came about in the 2000s doesn't mean the industry was launched then cos it has existed long before then.
2. So does Nollywood refer to only homevideos? If yes....it is still not 20years, cos Nigerian Home videos existed long before 'living in Bondage'. So, if we can't say Nollywood is 12years because the name came about around 12years ago, then same way you can't say the Nigerian homevideo is 20years because the video that you thought was a 'hit' came about 20years ago.....So you neglect the previous homevideos that were not even a 'miss'?
3. OR maybe Nollywood refers to only Pound road, Aba market. If that's the case; then they should just define it and we should all move along. Then Nollywood can be refered to as a subsection of 'Nigerian Movie Industry' and then the two words/Phrase will not be used interchangeably anymore. then every movie will not be referred to as 'Nollywood' anymore.
But then again, that's impossible, because the title 'Nollywood' was not given by any Nigerian in the first place. And the person who used it in the article referred to it CLEARLY as 'Nigerian Movie Industry', so nobody can just come to localize the title he/she didn't even create.


bottomline: 'Nollywood is 20' BS is a sham from the pit of hell and shouldn't be taken seriously. End of story!

If to say Nollywood title was coined by the makers of 'living in bondage' when it was released, then Maybe there's a point.

speedy just opened my eyes to a few things.
Thanks it seems clearer a bit now.

@Topic: My advice to ANTP is that they should accept the name nollywood wholeheartedly and forget about renaming BS.
At least TK himself was once quoted about 8 years ago to have said "...I am (was) not part of nollywood,...". But today he is among the forefront promoters of the 'nollywood brand'. He was even reported to have said "...nollywood is a brand name that has come to stay..."
This means he has accepted the idea.
Me thinks kannywood, yoruwood, niwood, or nai-whateverwood should just come together and lets have one nollywood. Working together for the best.

prof800:
Me thinks kannywood, yoruwood, niwood, or nai-whateverwood should just come together

@bolded, those ones don't exist o. And kannywood, is that for real? . Nawa.

Exactly @ Speedy. That is the problem... no one has actually defined 'Nollywood' which they use to refer to a certain period in Nigeria Film but the 'when exactly' as you pointed out is wrong.
If they say it starts from 'Living in bondage', even though the name didn't even exist then, they are STILL wrong because the industry started long before that.

In world film - when 'sound' came in to being; they didn't throw away everything that was in the past. When colour came in to being they still didn't throw away all that had come before.

It is a bit complex simple because we Nigerians do not really think about the 'whole' of the industry but what we can stake as out as a 'bragging rights' claim. Thinking up a 'new name' is bad as it would actually do even more damage to an already damaged industry. However, you mentioned something in your first post "It is a brand". You are 110% correct there and that is what they should focus on -
A) How to re'brand' Nollywood
B) How to redefine (or actually define) the timeframe

Even now people are differentiating things by saying 'Nollywood' & 'New Nollywood' - it will become crazy and confusing. What the 'Nigerian eggheads' need to do is make a clarification of what Nollywood really is and also is there an 'independent' film industry? Because I for one would not really call myself 'Nollywood' but what else is there for the indies to say that people will understand? To even add more confusion - aren't all Nigerian films 'technically' indie films? So what & 'where' is 'Nollywood'? (Note* - to people that will come into the thread and say "Hahaha mumu, there is no 'where' is Nollywood?", I'm not that silly, you'll have to 'think deeper' than taking it literally, thank you).
@Prof, yes you are right. It seems anything at all Nigerian falls under the brand name 'Nollywood' - that really is the current true status.

So yeah the whole thing is a bit of a shambles that really does need reclassification not re-naming as the 'brand' is already very strong nationally and internationally. Probably these problems arise when we 'agree' to a 'foreign' copy without figuring out what is is we are copying just so we can sound 'similar' - even 'Bollywood', like Hollywood, has clear distinctions abi?

People remember, all I've said could be wrong but these are just my opinions.

VillageBoi:
@Prof, yes you are right. It seems anything at all Nigerian falls under the brand name 'Nollywood' - that really is the current true status.

Anything at all Nigerian falls under the brand name 'Nollywood' - let the status remain that way.

VillageBoi: we Nigerians do not really think about the 'whole' of the industry but what we can stake as out as a 'bragging rights' claim.

My point exactly! Nigerians never care to try to find out enough on their fields, then they come up with something they think no one has ever done before and then call it a 'first'. It's still happening till this day!

The ground in which Nollywood stands is clear enough......people just wanna disorganize everything. Hollywood is in California, Bollywood refers to Indian films in which Hindi is spoken. Nollywood refers to Nigerian Film industry....and that's it!