Nigeria now producing more movies than Hollywood

Posted By Joshua Keating Wednesday, May 6, 2009 - 11:23 AM Share

UN Dispatch's John Boonstra passes along a fascinating milestone. The Nigerian film industry (known as Nollywood) has surpassed Hollywood to become the world's second largest after India's Bollywood:

According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) survey, Bollywood – as the Mumbai-based film industry is known – produced 1,091 feature-length films in 2006. In comparison, Nigeria’s moviemakers, commonly known as Nollywood, came out with 872 productions – all in video format – while the United States produced 485 major films.
“Film and video production are shining examples of how cultural industries, as vehicles of identity, values and meanings, can open the door to dialogue and understanding between peoples, but also to economic growth and development,” said UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura.
“This new data on film and video production provides yet more proof of the need to rethink the place of culture on the international political agenda,” he added.

KAMBOU SIA/AFP/Getty Images

EXPLORE:AFRICA, CULTURE

(1)

HIDE COMMENTS LOGIN OR REGISTER REPORT ABUSE

CEOLAF

12:36 PM ET

May 6, 2009

Inconsistent measures

What does this mean? "Nigeria’s moviemakers, commonly known as Nollywood, came out with 872 productions – all in video format – while the United States produced 485 major films."

Well, if we are just counting "major films," how many did Nigeria produce?

If the standard is "video format," how many did the United State produce? Long form, short form, documentary, animation?

What about non-major films, things done with home or student set ups and released online?

If we just want to limit things to commercial productions, what happens if we include the part of the video industry that no one likes acknowedge, pornography?

In short, why should I believe that this is anything other than cooked statistics? If the same standards are used for inclusion in both countries, how do the numbers compare?

Passport, FP’s flagship blog, brings you news and hidden angles on the biggest stories of the day, as well as insights and under-the-radar gems from around the world.