The growing collaboration between Nollywood and Hollywood in film making has been described as a healthy development for the evolving entertainment industry in Nigeria.
The President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, Agility Onwura, made the statement in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Friday.
Onwura said: “Before now, our popular music stars have been collaborating with singers from other parts of the world.
“Extending it to film making is very good for Nollywood.
“The recognition Nollywood stars and films are now receiving globally is commendable because the quality of our films has international standards.
“The growing Nollywood-Hollywood collaboration has made it possible for some of our movie stars to feature in films with some of America’s best artistes.
“The collaborations within the entertainment industry have given our artistes global recognition and acceptance.”
The AGN boss said international award-winning Nigerian films such as “Ije”, “Turning point”, “Half of a Yellow Sun” and “Dr Bello” were products of collaborations.
He said: “This development has made others like India’s Bollywood, which is the largest in the world, to now start seeking our collaboration.
According to Onwura, the collaboration shows that the major global players in film business now believe in what Nigeria can do in terms of film production.
Also speaking, Nzeh Frankwhite, the President of the Association of Movie Producers, said the growth of Nollywood in recent times was what attracted Hollywood.
Frankwhite described the growing collaboration between the two bodies as quite encouraging.
He said: “Nollywood’s robust growth and global appeal offer many opportunities.
“Nollywood is rated as the second largest film industry in the world after Bollywood of India.
“The industry generated a total of $10 billion in 2013 and contributed over two per cent to our GDP in 2014.
“It holds much promise to both local and foreign investors, from film-making to marketing and distribution, there are many promising sub-sectors within the industry.”
Frankwhite said the growing Nollywood-Hollywood collaboration would tell film makers in the world that Nigeria had what they could invest in.
He said: “All over the world, especially in America, our movies and artistes are now in high demand.
“This is a very good development.”
NAN reports that the first Nollywood-Hollywood collaboration was “Through the Glass”, a film produced by Stephanie Okereke, her project at the New York Film Academy in 2008.
NAN.