I’m desirous to make a Nollywood film – David Oyelowo

‘Selma’ star, David Oyelowo, has said he may return some day to join Nigeria’s booming movie industry, Nollywood.
In response to a question about his thoughts on Nollywood, at the Toronto International Film festival (TIFF), the two-time Golden Globe-nominee said Nollywood oscillates between being the second and third biggest film industry in the world.
He said: “I can tell by the profile that they are gaining, that it’s not going to be long before I… to be perfectly frank, as someone who has established their career in Western filmmaking, I’m going to be desirous to go back and make a film that would be deemed a Nollywood movie.”
Oyelowo also said: “Because for me, excellence is key and I want to work with the best filmmakers in the world, whoever they are, wherever they are. And of course there’s going to be a very particular desire to do that if that is happening in Nigeria.”
The actor who stars alongside Lupita Nyong’o in the Mira Nair-directed ‘Queen of Katwe’ added that: “Living there myself, being of Nigerian parentage, we love a good story, we love a good yarn. It’s very much embedded in the culture and that’s why we have this prolific production of movies.”
According to the star, who also said new streaming avenues cropping up in Africa are reducing piracy and increasing the quality of the films, “Up until recently, the production value of the films has been fairly low and that has also been impacted by piracy, which means that it’s a very hard industry within to make the commensurate amount of remuneration you should for making movies.
“That’s also why the production values have remained low, because by and large, about a week or so into having made your movie, it’s going to be so pirated that you stop making money for it. So you’ve got to make all of your money very, very quickly and then move onto the next one.
“Now they are emerging as entrepreneurs, as filmmakers who have taken what they learned, whether in American or in Europe, back and employing those methods to Nigerian storytelling and the quality is being driven up,” he said.
Oyelowo is optimistic that it won’t be long before movies coming out of Nigeria are going to be at a world-class level.