We Recently caught a post from Filmmaker  Jade Osiberu, the director of the Award winning Film Isoken. Where she talked about how she has evolved to becoming a Nollywood Evangelist.

Read Post Below.
For a while now, I’ve called myself a Nollywood evangelist. Strange for a girl who didn’t like the term ‘Nollywood ‘ up until a few years ago because like many, I thought it derivative. Here’s why I’m now an evangelist.
As a writer/director, the art of filmmaking/cinema is so powerful in the way it moves, inspires and delights me, some of the happiest moments in my life have been on set directing. As a producer however, I find the Business of Entertainment, in particular the business of Film and Television in Nigeria so exciting.
I find it exciting not because the business is currently well structured or particularly lucrative, at least not yet. My excitement comes from seeing the immense potential on a continent heading towards a billion people, where culturally, from music to films, Nigeria is so influential. Yet it often feels like we don’t know our own power.
In my opinion, the largest audience for African content around the world will always be Africans. Of course, seeking a global audience for our work is great but all we need to do is look at China, India, Japan, Korea, the biggest film & TV industries outside of Hollywood have built significant local industries.
It’s the work we must do if we’re going to build an industry robust enough to truly empower millions, not just a few, with the opportunity and skills to tell their own stories; an industry where we’re not spectators or charity ‘collaborators’ but we actually control our narrative and don’t have to pander to what others believe or find interesting about us.

Already, big strides have been made in the last 8-10years, but there’s so much work to be done still and it’s being part of this work, in my own small way, that gets me really excited.

This is a Repost from Jade Osiberu on Instagram.