Nigerian Times

"Most of the world is without a cinema hall. That will all change! One village, one cinema. Why not?" ~Anthony Tate, Virgina, U.S.A. As much as we appreciate the revival of the movie theatre culture in Nigeria with thanks to the Silverbird Cinemas and Genesis Deluxe Cinemas, we would be happier to use cinemas to break social class barriers and build bridges of unity among communities for the common benefit of the society and not to pander to the aristocratic tastes of the rich minority in Nigeria to the detriment of the poor majority. Cinema has never been an elitist medium of communication. Cinema is a tool for public entertainment and enlightenment and has been very effective and imperative in mass literacy campaigns in developed and developing countries for decades. Cinemas made Hollywood the film capital of the world buoyed by over 38,605 indoor screens in 5,561 sites and 628 Drive-In screens in 381 sites in the US, the largest in the world. Presently in Nigeria movie the...

A view of a nearly deserted 7th Avenue near Times Square in Manhattan as Hurricane Irene closed in on the New York City area August 28, 2011. Hurricane Irene battered New York with heavy winds and driving rain on Sunday, shutting down the U.S. financial capital and most populous city, halting mass transit and causing massive power blackouts as it churned slowly northward along the eastern seaboard. Photo Credit: The Christian Post . Who goes to the movies in a stormy weather? Rentrak the leader in multi-screen media measurement reported that movie ticket sales dropped by 18.9 percent due to Hurricane Irene, as compared to the same weekend in 2010. New York, Boston and New Haven in the Northeast were the most affected by the horrifying hurricane. But the overall theatrical box office sales increased by 3.9 percent from the beginning of the summer 2011 box office period. The following is the full report of the impact of Hurricane Irene on movie theaters across the U.S. ...

The most famous Nollywood star Genevieve Nnaji Taking Nollywood to the next level Recently stakeholders in the Nigerian film industry met at the last quarterly stampede of the Committee for Relevant Art (CORA) to discuss “The New Trend in Nollywood”. The event was held on Sunday May 22, 2011, at the Freedom Park on Broad Street, Lagos. The forum was convened by CORA and Mr. Femi Odugbemi’s iRepresent International Documentary Film Festival (iREP). It was well coordinated and well attended by most of the notable personalities in Nollywood and related fields. Celebrated actors Richard Mofe-Damijo, Joke Silva-Jacobs, Francis Onwochei and other Nollywood stars sat quietly without any sort of fanfare or glamour in the audience. The invited filmmakers identified as leaders of the new trend had an interactive session on their movies. Mahmood Ali-Balogun discussed his matrimonial drama “Tango With Me”, Kunle Afolayan spoke on his horror thriller “The Figurine 'araromire'”, Stephani...