Nollywood Babylon Timeline
Nollywood Timeline
1915 -1940s
- - British build movie houses across the country, screening content provided by the Colonial Film Unit.
1935
- - Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Sanders of the River, starring Paul Robeson, is filmed in Nigeria.
1945
- - Hubert Ogunde founds the first professional Nigerian theatre company
1950s-early 1960s
- - Nigerian movie theatres show documentaries on the Queen’s visits to Nigeria, English soccer matches, Westminster Parliamentary debates and government-sponsored films on health and education, along with American cowboy movies.
1961
- - Nigeria gains its independence from Britain.
1960-1970
- - The first generation of African filmmakers participate in a global movement known as the “Third Cinema.”
- - Nigeria produces its first feature films.
- - Television stations are established.
1967-1970
- - Biafran war.
1972
- - Indigenization Decree of 1972 transfers the mostly foreign ownership of movie theatres to Nigerians.
- - Travelling Yoruba theatre rises in popularity and international acclaim.
- - Nigerian literature and theatre come to the big and small screen.
1975-77
- - Nationalist Cinema flourishes: Dinner with the Devil, directed by Sanya Dosunmu and Wole Amele, and Bisi - Daughter of the River, directed by Jab Adu and Ladi Ladebo, capture Nigerian culture on film.
1981
- - Nigerian government edges towards bankruptcy due to a drop in oil prices. The naira, the local currency, begins to decline.
1982
- - Nigeria institutes the Structural Adjustment Program. The naira is devalued. Nigerian filmmakers can no longer afford to import supplies necessary to make films.
1983
- - Eddie Ugbomah directs Death of a Black President.
1984
- - Lack of public security forces the general public to stay indoors. Movie theatres shut due to low attendance.
1985
- - Supported by the Nigerian government, every state gets its own broadcasting station.
1989
- - VCR sales become widespread.
1991
- - First private broadcasting stations are established
1992
- - In an attempt to boost sales, Kenneth Nnebue, a Lagos electronic merchant, shoots a film and puts it onto blank videocassettes. Living in Bondage, about a man struggling to make it in Lagos, is a huge success, selling over 500,000 copies. The Nollywood formula is born.
1993 – 1998
- - In the wake of Living in Bondage’s success, hundreds of merchants and small business owners become film producers. They use untrained crews and work with cheap video equipment, often VHS cameras. The products are shot and edited in a matter of weeks and distributed through stalls at urban markets in Lagos.
- - Nollywood quickly becomes wildly popular in Nigeria and starts to conquer the rest of Africa. Many producers make their fortunes overnight - not unlike the plot of a typical Nollywood movie. Soon thousands of films are being made every year. Certain genres and themes begin to emerge, such as the “Voodoo Horror” film.
1993
- - Helen Ukpabio produces and stars in End of the Wicked. This film had many graphic depictions of the evangelical Christian vs. traditional African religion theme that emerges as a major element in many Nollywood films. End of the Wicked sells hundreds of thousands of copies in the market, makes a lot of money and does much to promote Helen’s Church - Liberty Gospel Ministry.
1995
- - Lancelot Imasuen directs his first film, titled Twisted Fate.
1998
- - A star system begins to emerge. Actors such as Genevieve Nanji and Omotola Ekiende become recognizable all over Africa and powerful in the industry.
- - Nollywood continues to grow. African ex-pat communities begin introducing Nigerian filmmaking to the world.
2007
- - At 36 years old, Lancelot Imasuen directs his 158th film – Bent Arrows.
