₦airaland Forum

puku902:
I know.
He was either Arapa or Arese.
He was just a young actor then.
But his first production was Araromi Figurine.
Saworoide was produce by mainframe under Tunde Kilani

Go back and digest my post slowly

This list is not complete...na where you go put Kunle Afolayan? Yoruba producers have left home video for .... . Now they produce movies!

Konquest:
@Ibechris,

First off, there are historical errors in your post right above and I will CLEARLY state the historical time lines for you and everyone reading this thread to make corrections. Chinua Achebe NEVER made the first ever film in Nigeria in 1958. You are confusing the year his 1958 book was published with the year 1971 when a film adaptation of his 1958 book was made. The Things Fall Apart film (produced in 1971) was his FIRST film produced by the Executive Producer, Francis Oladele and a German Director and other White folks and it was shot in Lagos and Ibadan. It was viewed in Nigeria for the FIRST time ever on July 31, 2021 (50 years later) when the lost films were found after the death of the German Director in 2015. In that 1971 film, the iconic Pa Orlando Martins (who is an indigene of Lagos Island and the FIRST ever Nigerian international movie star since 1935 in England and the FIRST Nigerian to act in any Hollywood movie alongside other great actors such as former President Ronald Reagan in 1949) acted the role of Obierika in that 1971 film adaptation of Things Fall Apart. Prior to that 1971 film, Kongi's Harvest which is a 1969 feature film adaptation of Professor Wole Soyinka's book by the same name of Kongi's Harvest became the FIRST ever Nigerian movie to be produced and directed fully by Nigerians and it was shown in 1969 at the cinemas in Lagos State and elsewhere. Francis Oladele was the Executive Producer of the high-quality film Kongi's Harvest which was he FIRST film he ever produced. Francis Oladele's SECOND ever film as the Executive Producer was that of Chinua Achebe.

Things Fall Apart (1971) film viewed in Nigeria for the first time
Bolaji Alonge August 4, 2021
=>https://eyesofalagosboy.com/2021/08/04/things-fall-apart-1971-film-viewed-in-nigeria-for-the-first-time/

Memorializing Pa Orlando Martins (1899-1985): The First African and Nigerian Film Actor In England and Hollywood
=>https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2022/05/28/memorialising-orlando-martins/


Second, the annoying coinage Nollywood is a term that only coined around the year 2002 by an American journalist. It's actually a belittling word or coinage... More like a Hollywood wannabe or copycat.

What existed back then was simply the Nigerian movie industry and I still prefer to call it the Nigerian movie industry (both cinema celluloid era, home video, and the new wave of multiplex cinemas again) because that name "Nollywood" is an insult just like saying a Hollywood wannabe or copycat. This is the reason why the Indian movie industry practitioners STRONGLY detest the term "Bollywood." Unlike what Nigeria was doing in the past relying on home video sales from 1988 when SOSO EKUN the FIRST ever home video (a film packaged in VHS cassettes) was produced and screened simultaneously in the cinemas in Lagos in the Yoruba movie industry branch of the Nigerian movie industry and many more films on home videos were produced by Prince Alade Aromire from 1989, Prince Jide Kosolo and others right into the early 1990s and beyond, the Indians usually screened there movies at multiplex cinemas just like in the United States thereby curbing piracy.

Third, the film Palaver, otherwise known as Palaver: A Romance of Northern Nigeria, is a 1926 silent film shot in British Nigeria; it is recognized today as the FIRST Nigerian feature film. The British film which was written and directed by Geoffrey Barkas was shot among the Sura, Angas, Mangu and Berom people of Plateau and Bauchi in Northern Nigeria and was released on April 25, 1927. The film tells the story of a jealous British tin miner (Mark Fernandez) in Nigeria who with alcohol aroused the natives against his rival, Captain Allison, a British District Officer. Jean Stuart, a nursing sister, also added the theme of love to the film by getting emotionally struck between the rebelling duo.

=>https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palaver_(1926_film)


PALAVER (1926): The First Ever Nigerian Feature Film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8b3IbNQjgs?si=VLAlLn0i2-4CMU9E
NostalgicSoundTV • Dec 20 2023
#nigerianhistory


In addition, Calpeny Nigeria Ltd which was established in 1965 by the iconic Francis Oladele spearheaded the production of the first wholly-produced Nigerian film – KONGI' HARVEST as the Executive Producer, based on a play written by Professor Wole Soyinka. That movie was screened at the cinemas in Lagos State in 1969. The movie director Tunde Kelani also said in a documentary that when he was younger, he went to the cinema in Lagos State to watch the screening of that first ever Nigerian film directed and produced by Nigerians unlike Palaver that had White British input in 1926. He said it was that 1969 movie Kongi's Harvest that inspired him to be a film producer and director.

=>https://total-facts-about-nigeria.com/nigerian-movies.html


The Rise of the Home Video Industry
This too was started by the Yoruba movie industry branch of the Nigerian film industry in 1988 with "Soso Ekun" which was the FIRST ever commercially-produced Nigerian home video for VHS and it was also screened at the National Theatre in Lagos. Prince Alade Aromire also followed suit with his home video subtitled in English in 1989. Prince Jide Kosolo and others also produced their own home videos right from the late 1980s right into the 1990s and beyond with the rise in the number of folks buying VHS players.

In 1992, the FIRST ever Ibo language home video that was subtitled in English was produced by Kenneth Nnebue who later became a pastor. In a 1997 ThisDay newspaper one-page article that I read (and I still have the copy), Kenneth Nnebue gave credit to the Yoruba and Indian movie industries for inspiring him. He also said he had worked with the actors and movie producers in the Yoruba language movie industry to market and distribute their home videos before 1992. He mentioned up to 20 home videos he knew offhand from the Yoruba movie industry and that was what triggered him to produce the film Living in Bondage which Kenneth Nnebue said he originally planned to do in the Yoruba language. When things didn't turn out as planned, he took a leap and tried the Igbo language but he used a foreign name (English ) for his home video title. The home video then went on to become popular because there was a ready market for Ibo language home videos subtitled in English after people had seen the popularity of the Yoruba language home videos from 1988 that were subtitled in English.

In rounding off, like I said earlier, NO word called "Nollywood" existed in the 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s right to the early 2000s. It's disgusting that some unimaginative people in the media and elsewhere just jumped right in and started to use a "belittling term" coined by an American journalist in 2002 when the Indians have long REJECTED the term "Bollywood" because they say they are NOT a caricature or copy cat of the Hollywood film industry. They are simply the Indian movie industry.

I hope that helps.

I duff my cap for you..... you've said it all!

funshint:
I duff my cap for you..... you've said it all!

@funshint

I appreciate your feedback here and I'm glad you found this post insightful. You have my permission to share the post with others offline who do NOT know about the accurate historical time line of the Nigerian movie industry. I mean, how can anybody [including some younger journalists] WRONGLY say that home videos started in 1992 with Living in Bondage when even Kenneth Nnebue the producer of that Ibo home video gave credit [in a 1997 ThisDay newspaper interview which I still have] to the Yoruba home video industry segment of the Nigerian movie industry for starting home videos in Nigeria from the 1988 with the film "Soso Ekun." I didn't even include in that post the information about the greatest film makers of the 1970s and 1980s such as Dr. Ola Balogun, Ade Love [Kunle Afolayan's father], Hubert Ogunde and the late Eddy Ugboma [who is originally from Kwale in Delta State]. Dr. Ola Balogun produced Baba Sala's film "Orun Mooru" and other blockbusters on celluloid films which we used to watch in the cinemas back in the day in the 1970s and 1980s before the Yoruba home video industry pioneered the use of home videos on VHS cassetes from 1988 onwards.

Cheers.

Konquest:
@funshint

I appreciate your feedback here and I'm glad you found this post insightful. You have my permission to share the post with others offline who do NOT know about the accurate historical time line of the Nigerian movie industry. I mean, how can anybody [including some younger journalists] WRONGLY say that home videos started in 1992 with Living in Bondage when even Kenneth Nnebue the producer of that Ibo home video gave credit [in a 1997 ThisDay newspaper interview which I still have] to the Yoruba home video industry segment of the Nigerian movie industry for starting home videos in Nigeria from the 1988 with the film "Soso Ekun." I didn't even include in that post the information about the greatest film makers of the 1970s and 1980s such as Dr. Ola Balogun, Ade Love [Kunle Afolayan's father] and the late Eddy Ugboma [who is originally from Kwale in Delta State]. Dr. Ola Balogun produced Baba Sala's film "Orun Mooru" and other blockbusters on celluloid films which we used to watch in the cinemas back in the day in the 1970s and 1980s before the Yoruba home video industry pioneered the use of home videos on VHS cassetes in 1988 onwards.

Cheers.

Where can one watch all these vintage films especially Hubert Ogunde's films? The closest of his film I remembered watching is his short appearance in the 1990 film "Mr Johnson" if I'm not wrong. I heard he placed curses on his films being marketed or viewed...how true is this?

Konquest:
@Ibechris,

First off, there are historical errors in your post right above and I will CLEARLY state the historical time lines for you and everyone reading this thread to make corrections. Chinua Achebe NEVER made the first ever film in Nigeria in 1958. You are confusing the year his 1958 book was published with the year 1971 when a film adaptation of his 1958 book was made. The Things Fall Apart film (produced in 1971) was his FIRST film produced by the Executive Producer, Francis Oladele and a German Director and other White folks and it was shot in Lagos and Ibadan. It was viewed in Nigeria for the FIRST time ever on July 31, 2021 (50 years later) when the lost films were found after the death of the German Director in 2015. In that 1971 film, the iconic Pa Orlando Martins (who is an indigene of Lagos Island and the FIRST ever Nigerian international movie star since 1935 in England and the FIRST Nigerian to act in any Hollywood movie alongside other great actors such as former President Ronald Reagan in 1949) acted the role of Obierika in that 1971 film adaptation of Things Fall Apart. Prior to that 1971 film, Kongi's Harvest which is a 1969 feature film adaptation of Professor Wole Soyinka's book by the same name of Kongi's Harvest became the FIRST ever Nigerian movie to be produced and directed fully by Nigerians and it was shown in 1969 at the cinemas in Lagos State and elsewhere. Francis Oladele was the Executive Producer of the high-quality film Kongi's Harvest which was he FIRST film he ever produced. Francis Oladele's SECOND ever film as the Executive Producer was that of Chinua Achebe.

Things Fall Apart (1971) film viewed in Nigeria for the first time
Bolaji Alonge August 4, 2021
=>https://eyesofalagosboy.com/2021/08/04/things-fall-apart-1971-film-viewed-in-nigeria-for-the-first-time/

Memorializing Pa Orlando Martins (1899-1985): The First African and Nigerian Film Actor In England and Hollywood
=>https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2022/05/28/memorialising-orlando-martins/


Second, the annoying coinage Nollywood is a term that only coined around the year 2002 by an American journalist. It's actually a belittling word or coinage... More like a Hollywood wannabe or copycat.

What existed back then was simply the Nigerian movie industry and I still prefer to call it the Nigerian movie industry (both cinema celluloid era, home video, and the new wave of multiplex cinemas again) because that name "Nollywood" is an insult just like saying a Hollywood wannabe or copycat. This is the reason why the Indian movie industry practitioners STRONGLY detest the term "Bollywood." Unlike what Nigeria was doing in the past relying on home video sales from 1988 when SOSO EKUN the FIRST ever home video (a film packaged in VHS cassettes) was produced and screened simultaneously in the cinemas in Lagos in the Yoruba movie industry branch of the Nigerian movie industry and many more films on home videos were produced by Prince Alade Aromire from 1989, Prince Jide Kosolo and others right into the early 1990s and beyond, the Indians usually screened there movies at multiplex cinemas just like in the United States thereby curbing piracy.

Third, the film Palaver, otherwise known as Palaver: A Romance of Northern Nigeria, is a 1926 silent film shot in British Nigeria; it is recognized today as the FIRST Nigerian feature film. The British film which was written and directed by Geoffrey Barkas was shot among the Sura, Angas, Mangu and Berom people of Plateau and Bauchi in Northern Nigeria and was released on April 25, 1927. The film tells the story of a jealous British tin miner (Mark Fernandez) in Nigeria who with alcohol aroused the natives against his rival, Captain Allison, a British District Officer. Jean Stuart, a nursing sister, also added the theme of love to the film by getting emotionally struck between the rebelling duo.

=>https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palaver_(1926_film)


PALAVER (1926): The First Ever Nigerian Feature Film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8b3IbNQjgs?si=VLAlLn0i2-4CMU9E
NostalgicSoundTV • Dec 20 2023
#nigerianhistory


In addition, Calpeny Nigeria Ltd which was established in 1965 by the iconic Francis Oladele spearheaded the production of the first wholly-produced Nigerian film – KONGI' HARVEST as the Executive Producer, based on a play written by Professor Wole Soyinka. That movie was screened at the cinemas in Lagos State in 1969. The movie director Tunde Kelani also said in a documentary that when he was younger, he went to the cinema in Lagos State to watch the screening of that first ever Nigerian film directed and produced by Nigerians unlike Palaver that had White British input in 1926. He said it was that 1969 movie Kongi's Harvest that inspired him to be a film producer and director.

=>https://total-facts-about-nigeria.com/nigerian-movies.html


The Rise of the Home Video Industry
This too was started by the Yoruba movie industry branch of the Nigerian film industry in 1988 with "Soso Ekun" which was the FIRST ever commercially-produced Nigerian home video for VHS and it was also screened at the National Theatre in Lagos. Prince Alade Aromire also followed suit with his home video subtitled in English in 1989. Prince Jide Kosolo and others also produced their own home videos right from the late 1980s right into the 1990s and beyond with the rise in the number of folks buying VHS players.

In 1992, the FIRST ever Ibo language home video that was subtitled in English was produced by Kenneth Nnebue who later became a pastor. In a 1997 ThisDay newspaper one-page article that I read (and I still have the copy), Kenneth Nnebue gave credit to the Yoruba and Indian movie industries for inspiring him. He also said he had worked with the actors and movie producers in the Yoruba language movie industry to market and distribute their home videos before 1992. He mentioned up to 20 home videos he knew offhand from the Yoruba movie industry and that was what triggered him to produce the film Living in Bondage which Kenneth Nnebue said he originally planned to do in the Yoruba language. When things didn't turn out as planned, he took a leap and tried the Igbo language but he used a foreign name (English ) for his home video title. The home video then went on to become popular because there was a ready market for Ibo language home videos subtitled in English after people had seen the popularity of the Yoruba language home videos from 1988 that were subtitled in English.

In rounding off, like I said earlier, NO word called "Nollywood" existed in the 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s right to the early 2000s. It's disgusting that some unimaginative people in the media and elsewhere just jumped right in and started to use a "belittling term" coined by an American journalist in 2002 when the Indians have long REJECTED the term "Bollywood" because they say they are NOT a caricature or copy cat of the Hollywood film industry. They are simply the Indian movie industry.

I hope that helps.

Thank you for this! I read every line of your piece and was quite enriched by your depth of history. People like you are scarce as Nairaland has become a cesspit of ignoramuses where we can't just celebrate our successes without it turning to a tribal slur-fest! Once more, thank you!

funshint:
Where can one watch all these vintage films especially Hubert Ogunde's films? The closest of his film I remembered watching is his short appearance in the 1990 film "Mr Johnson" if I'm not wrong. I heard he placed curses on his films being marketed or viewed...how true is this?

Okay @funshint,

The Ogunde family will be able to better answer that because they have access to some of the ORIGINAL celluloid films. It's very important that these films are preserved and the newly commissioned world-class JK Randle Yoruba Cultural Center museum located at Onikan, Lagos Island will be the BEST to help in preserving and projecting these aspects of Yoruba and Nigerian film history.

As recent as four years ago, I read that Kunle Afolayan, and others were trying to find some of the lost movies produced on celluloid by his iconic film producer father Adeyemi Afolayan [Ade Love] who was active in the 1970s and 1980s just like Chief Hubert Ogunde. The late film guru Eddy Ugboma too was working on the project of finding ways to preserve the old celluloid films he worked with too and was in touch with Kunle Afolayan and others.

I will mention you if I get any information on how far they have gone because I too have an interest in preserving important aspects of Yoruba, Nigerian, and indeed world history. Meanwhile, watch and download these 3 videos BELOW for some more insights. One of Chief Hubert Ogunde's London-based sons Mr. Owobo Ogunde was interviewed on Channels TV in early 2024:

‘Kunle Afolayan Brought Me Back To Showbiz’, Ogunde On Early Days, Relationship With Hubert Ogunde.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClHkRl1_5UM
20:54
Channels Television · 26 Feb 2024


Hubert Ogunde

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkidvLJqulk
TK ÒPÓMÚLÉRÓ · Nov 23, 2015

ALSO read the comments in that YouTube channel for some interesting insights.


Chief Hubert Ogunde - EKO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5TDLxA7gMs
EgbaAlake · May 6, 2017

Rebelutionary:
Thank you for this! I read every line of your piece and was quite enriched by your depth of history. People like you are scarce as Nairaland has become a cesspit of ignoramuses where we can't just celebrate our successes without it turning to a tribal slur-fest! Once more, thank you!

@Rebelutionary, how's it going?

I like the way you coined your name. I has a modern, revolutionary energy embedded in it.

I appreciate you for finding the time to read every line of my post and I'm motivated and fired up to do more. It's VERY important to preserve GENUINE history, to read read, breath, and talk history because we live in a "world of cycles" and history enables us to spot or identify business, crime and economic trends. These historic cyclical trends have enabled savvy folks to become millionaires and billionaires as well.

I completely agree with your summations about the negatives and positives of NL. I originally joined this forum in 2005 while searching for Nigerian discussion forums to join and stumbled on this one, and I have never left. NL will be BETTER off if there is a manual screening of all newly registered NL aacounts to keep these troll farms away because this is exactly what American and European discussion forums do. They don't just allow new monikers to start posting right away and that is what the trolls are taking advantage of after being banned because they register new accounts and come back again. I have suggested this to the owner of this forum and I don't know what he is waiting for. I would have left here long ago like other Diasporans who where many on this website back in the 2000s, BUT in the midst of the negatives, I'm still happy that this website has A LOT of highly intelligent people who contribute to the body of knowledge. Most just choose to fly below the radar, they read but don't post here. A female student even posted here on NL two years ago that she became a Naira millionaire based off of the information she gleaned on NL and her interactions with some folks here. She was still a Uni Engineering student as of the time she posted that message and I interracted with her then.

Thanks again for you kind words @Rebelutionary.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Cheers.

Konquest:
Okay @funshint,

The Ogunde family will be able to better answer that because they have access to some of the ORIGINAL celluloid films. It's very important that these films are preserved and the newly commissioned world-class JK Randle Yoruba Cultural Center museum located at Onikan, Lagos Island will be the BEST to help in preserving and projecting these aspects of Yoruba and Nigerian film history.

As recent as four years ago, I read that Kunle Afolayan, and others were trying to find some of the lost movies produced on celluloid by his iconic film producer father Adeyemi Afolayan [Ade Love] who was active in the 1970s and 1980s just like Chief Hubert Ogunde. The late film guru Eddy Ugboma too was working on the project of finding ways to preserve the old celluloid films he worked with too and was in touch with Kunle Afolayan and others.

I will mention you if I get any information on how far they have gone because I too have an interest in preserving important aspects of Yoruba, Nigerian, and indeed world history. Meanwhile, watch and download these 3 videos BELOW for some more insights. One of Chief Hubert Ogunde's London-based sons Mr. Owobo Ogunde was interviewed on Channels TV in early 2024:

‘Kunle Afolayan Brought Me Back To Showbiz’, Ogunde On Early Days, Relationship With Hubert Ogunde.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClHkRl1_5UM
20:54
Channels Television · 26 Feb 2024


Hubert Ogunde

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkidvLJqulk
TK ÒPÓMÚLÉRÓ · Nov 23, 2015

ALSO read the comments in that YouTube channel for some interesting insights.


Chief Hubert Ogunde - EKO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5TDLxA7gMs
EgbaAlake · May 6, 2017

Okay thank you.
I also think it's time we have a tv channel dedicated to mostly old vintage Nigerian films and sitcoms like what MGM and ANC channels are doing.