Some Christians are pretty excited that, over here in America, it looks like we might be seeing a bit of a surge in Christian-tinged filmmaking. But, according to Christianity Today, we’re far behind the curve. Nollywood — shorthand for the burgeoning film industry in Nigeria, Africa — is churning out faith-tinged films by the score. About a fifth of the nearly 900 films churned out by Nollywood in 2006 — almost 200 films — were considered Christian.
Not that even Christians there are uniformly thrilled. Sounds like Nigerian believers have many of the same discussions we have here: Are we transforming culture, or are we being transformed by it? Are we tools for Christ? Or are we using Christianity as a tool to sell more stuff?
While Nollywood looks remarkably Christian compared to Hollywood, some Lagos pastors and film producers think Nigeria’s film industry is full of idolatry and social evils and don’t want their ministries associated with it. In 1995 the National Film and Video Censors Board tracked almost 200 G-rated movies and few others. By 2005 over 1,300 movies rated 18-and-older were outpacing G movies by 6 to 1.
“Half of the Christian movies are not done by faith-based organizations, but by directors who want to take advantage of the strong religious inclinations of Nigerians to sell [movies],” [Nigerian arts and culture reporter Obidike] Okafor said. “The others do it to promote their faith.”
I’d be interested to see a Nollywood produced movie. Would you? Have you?
