The Chief Executive Officer of AFRIFF, Chioma Ude, has made it clear that inadequate local local language and culture have been responsible for the failure of the reason Nigerian movies to get much recognition from global film awards and festivals.
Speaking as a panelist at the Nigerian Entertainment Conference alongside Wunmi Obe, Femi Falodun and Theo Lawson, Chioma emphasized that most of the movies do not have as much local language content as required to enter the Foreign Film categories at most of the world’s biggest award shows.
“We need to understand what this category is about and the criteria for entry. Movies in this category are expected to have rich cultural elements which must reflect in the language, story, music and all other elements present in the film. Although, things are getting better now, as Nollywood got an invitation from the Oscars last year, and hopefully will get a slot soon. The right film must have at least 51% local language content to be accepted into the Foreign Language Film category.”
Speaking for the music industry, recording artiste, Wunmi Obe, explained that the same reason was why only the likes of Sunny Ade, Femi Kuti, Angelique Kidjo are the ones who usually get nominated for the Grammys.
“These people are very African in their sounds and lyrics, and that is what is required for that category.” [myad]
