A collaborative workshop between the Creative Arts department of the University of Lagos and the Ferguson Centre of the Open University, UK, endeared the new Nigerian cinema to London's cinema community

At a time when Screen Africa reports that the popularity of foreign films is growing in the Britain, Nigeria's new cinema offerings found enthusiastic reception among academics and African Diaspora communities in Britain recently. Multiple screenings of films by ace cinematographer and culturist, Tunde Kelani and Amaka Igwe turned out to be the icing on the cake of the four-day workshop, The Nollywood Film Industry and the African Diaspora in the UK, jointly organized by the Ferguson Centre of the Open University, UK, the Creative Arts Department of the University of Lagos and the British Film Institute; with support from the Nigerian High Commission in London.
Between Thursday August 9 and Sunday August 12, 2007 when the event held at different venues, Nollywood had a rare opportunity to impress the academics and professionals at the workshop and moviegoers of diverse background that saw Kelani's Abeni and The Narrow Path and Igwe's Images of Another Day (Directed by Izu Ojukwu) among others.
Each of the screening, either at the Nigerian High Commission in central London or at the scenic location of the BFI, there were emotional moments as there were intellectual appraisal of the Nigerian film industry that has emerged the most dominant in Africa in terms of its high turn-over of drama contents for both local and continental screens.
A Caribbean was moved to tears after seeing Abeni 2 at the High Commission. The screening on August 9 was the first time she would be visiting the Nigerian high commission 12 years after joining human rights activists to protest the killing of the playwright and Ogoni activist, Ken Saro Wiwa by the Nigerian military regime headed by Gen. Sani Abacha.
"Today, I remember Nigeria for good reasons. After the outpouring of 1995 when Saro-Wiwa was killed, I am now happy that a great occasion about the Nigerian cinema has brought me back to the Nigerian house in London on a good note," she said.
Meant to gauge the impact of the new Nigerian cinema on the African Diaspora in the UK, the workshop fulfils its mission largely, especially at the closing event, 'Lagos to London: A Nollywood Masterclass', which held at the BFI. If Nollywood had craved an opportunity for a mainstream parley with the British and the black disapora community in the UK, the Nollywood masterclass did just through the interactive session involving Kelani, Igwe and the Head of Department of Unilag's Creative Arts department, Prof. Duro Oni, who was one of the chief organizers of the workshop. Members of the Blackfilmakers UK, Chief Executive officer of Screen Nation, Mr. Charles Thompson and Kolton Lee, whose film, Cherpes, had a number of London-based Nigerian actors, were all at the event.

Steve Ayorinde