From “Makers of Images” to Cineastes? Looking Critically at Festivals and Critics’ Reception of Nollywood

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2023.533

Keywords:

Nollywood Film Criticism, Film Festival, Cineastes, Video Films, FESPACO, Cannes Film Festival

Abstract

At its inception in the early 1990s, the Nollywood film movement did not attract a positive appraisal from most “learned” critics. Its non-conformist approach to filmmaking made most critics to associate it with the act of just “making images” as well as a lack of respect for cinema. Even major film festivals seemed “not friendly” to Nollywood films. Today, the quality of Nollywood films has remarkably improved even though much is still to be done. However, it remains important to examine if such improvement in quality has affected international film critics’ reception of Nollywood films. Using secondary sources and critical observations this author examines how Nollywood film criticism has evolved over these last years. The author focuses specifically on how the FESPACO and Cannes Festival have received Nollywood productions. 

Author Biography

Floribert Patrick C. Endong, Department of Performing Arts and Cinematography, [IBAF], University of Dschang, Cameroon

Floribert Patrick C. Endong holds a PhD in Media Arts from the University of Calabar in Nigeria. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in cinema and TV studies at the Department of Performing Arts and Cinematography, [IBAF] University of Dschang in Cameroon. His areas of interest include visual anthropology, cinema, theatre criticism, photography, cultural studies and religious communication. He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters in the above mentioned areas of interest.

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Published

2023-10-20

How to Cite

Endong, F. P. C. (2023). From “Makers of Images” to Cineastes? Looking Critically at Festivals and Critics’ Reception of Nollywood. CINEJ Cinema Journal, 11(1), 358–386. https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2023.533

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 1 (2023): Fall 2023

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2023 Floribert Patrick C. Endong

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