The Nollywood Advancement

Slow and steady wins the race, is an old adage the Nigeria entertainment industry over the years found a way of getting around. When the Nigeria entertainment is discussed, ‘fast and steady’ is the theme. Earlier, the music industry upped their quality—gaining international awards and recognition. But recently, the movie industry; nollywood  (which already has been the 3rd biggest movie production industry right after Hoolywood and Bollywood respectively) picked up the notch too, this time not in vast production, but in picture quality, cinematography, visual effect, creative directing and impressively covering grounds on areas the industry have been lagging. Nigeria movies up graded its quality, gaining better audience and reverence due to the time input, high budget and extra hardwork infused into the whole production of the movies unlike the usual routine of 3weeks movie production with low budget and reckless attention which yields poorly produced movies which usually spreads a storyline annoyingly into mostly six parts in three segments of unprofessional general output. Slowly, the old fashioned production quality is phasing out and the new impressive production quality taking over—though it is rarely seen in the market in avoidance of piracy (which by the way the government needs to set up an EFCC/NAFDAC like agency to tackle the country’s piracy issues), it can be seen sold at authorized dealers, media houses and outlets; then also in cinemas across the world. These new types of Nigeria movies deserves special applaud and appreciation, and just for clarification and differentiation, here are some of the movie outcome of the newly improved Nollywood.



Gossip Nation
Gossip Nation takes multiple characters each on his / her journey through the strained community of Blacktown. Each character touches another through the destructive power of Gossip. Kemi, a Nigerian immigrant in her 20’s, spreads damaging Gossip within her African community out of her need to be loved, starting the fires of greed, jealousy and loneliness to those she touches. John is an English immigrant that has left the old country in order to escape the onslaught of sudden immigration. Now an established Australian family man, he finds his style of life he worked hard to build threatened by a steadily growing African community in his neighbourhood. Kabaka is a quirky, successful businessman trapped in his own world of uncontrollable lust, forever seeking to bed down with young women many years below his age – priding his rate of success. His latest ambition leads to Jenny – a young married woman with strong integrity locked in a marriage based on a lie. Amanda is a 2nd generation African living in an abusive family that has failed to achieve the Australian dream. Alone at heart, her pursuit to find a new family to belong in sets her down the road to self-destruction as relationships collapse around her. Emeka is an engineer from Nigeria and now an office cleaner in Australia. Emeka lives a faceless existence, a shadow of what he had hoped his Australian life would be. He encounters Greg, an Anglo Australian businessman whom through tough love tries to show him the raw truth and turn his life around.
My life my damage
The Nollywood flick ‘My life my Damage’ is the 2nd of the Damage Movies Trilogy Produced by Nollywood Actress UcheJombo and Directed by Moses Inwang, starring Tonto Dikeh, , Bukky Wright, Bobby Obodo and a few US based actors Thomas Altman & Dani Palmer. ‘My Life, My Damage’ deals with the consequences of drug abuse and HIV/AIDS. A young lady who lives a reckless life abroad as a drug addict is given a rude shock when she discovers that she’s HIV positive and now has to seek redemption for herself.
Timeless
In the movie timeless; Susan Peters’ character wishes to help her friend Mildred (Monalisa Chinda) to kidnap her pain-in-the-butt sister-in-law, Ifeanyi. Mildred runs down the list of other characters. A mother-in-law who pities her son’s widow but does nothing, a son who looks like the ocean, calm on the surface, raging underneath. A rather wayward British brought up daughter who doesn’t send anyone. We see a frustrated and unmarried sister-in-law competing with the devil for the ‘meanest personality’ award. And the main character, a widow who is of the God-is-my-strength-and-solace disposition. Mildred is accused of murdering her late husband Ebube, her sister-in-law. Ifeanyi takes it as her divine assignment to make Chinda go through all the widowhood rites, and even seizes her passport and that of her kids so that they can’t return to UK. It turns out that the seized passports are the central focus of the movie. That’s a bit of a giant plot hole: who would live in the UK for so long, return to bury her husband and take it that gently when her passport is seized? Besides, the kids are grown enough to all join hands and beat up the passport collector. After a heart wrenching prayer by Mildred, Ramsey Nouah is introduced to the plot as her guardian angel. Monalisa insists to her friend that she wants to mourn her husband forever. Angels may just be cute, handsome, caring, always there, and then you are likely to… fall in love!
Amina
AMINA can be best described as a British film with Nollywood sensibilities. Written, produced and directed by CHRISTIAN ASHAIKU, an innovative Nigerian born London based filmmaker; AMINA tells a deeply emotional and dramatic story dealing with the themes of love, loss and redemption.  Told in flashback, AMINA is about the life of a gifted young woman (OmotolaJalade-Ekeinde) who, devastated by a series of life changing events suffers a total breakdown and finds herself incarcerated in a mental hospital. Only one person can help Amina, her doctor (Wil Johnson), but he must overcome his own demons before he can help Amina confront her past. Shot completely on location in London and at St Ann’s Hospital in north London AMINA is being described by UK industry insiders as possessing real crossover potential and a film that can elevate and redefine Nollywood to become more widely recognized within mainstream cinema. AMINA is the first British movie starring Nollywood’s most bankable actress and Ghana's biggest male star.

Epitaph

Nollywood's Big, Bold and Beautiful Adaorah Ukoh's production company – The Big Sistz Productions in- conjunction with 16_11 Productiions and Davarts Digitals Media are set to release EPITAPH. EPITAPH is a short documentary drama based on a true story. It focuses on the issues of gross emotional abuse, betrayal and health. The documentary stars Adaora UKOH, Davies BASSEY, and Maureen SOLOMON the thrilling movie was directed by Kingsley Ugonna EZEH.

By Nnagoziem TheVyrus Udensi