For the second half of November we celebrate global innovators, or more precisely, innovators in Nigerian Cinema! Shut out from distribution in the west and hungry to tell stories in their own large and multicultural Nigeria, indie filmmakers created Hollywood through ingenuity, willpower and the power of VHS tapes and democratized, affordable film cameras.
Guerilla filmmakers in the 1990s and 2000s would whip out films within a week, distribute them through VHS tapes, and entertain a pulsing, interested audience eager to see cinema depicting the Nigerian way of life. Flying by the seat of their pants, they went on to create the second largest film market in the world after Hollywood worth billions! All without target interest groups, international recognition (in the beginning) and businesses who believed that there was a need to show the Nigerian point of view.
We look to the future and there are even new wave Nigerian science fiction filmmakers! We do live in beautiful times…
How Does that Inspire you?
Interested in hacking on something inspired by the indie Nigerian film creators? It doesn’t necessarily have to be films but also equipments to assist indie filmmakers making films on a budget in just a week, like:
- special lights or film harnesses.
- Quick and easy and reusable film displays, nostalgic flea market mats to merchandise Nollywood VHS tapes,
- Film editing software for adding an African flair
- and more!
Sign up for Hardware hack night on https://lu.ma/sudoroom
Learn more about Nollywood
- https://www.excelman.com/en/galerie/afrique/nigeria/nollywood.html
- https://www.britannica.com/art/Nigerian-theatre
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/378986020_Digital_technology_and_Nollywood_film_industry
- https://www.warwickafricasummit.org/post/the-rise-of-the-nigerian-film-industry-nollywood