Abstract
This paper attempts to appraise African filmmaking and the content of African films from a Nigerian film audience perspective. The study specifically explores the disposition of the audience towards contemporary African filmmaking for home video and cinema entertainment as well as the content of African films. The study used a qualitative questionnaire to determine the perspectives of residents in Lagos as members of the Nigerian film audience. The study found the perception of the content of contemporary African films, particularly home videos, to vary among the film audience. Opinion largely favoured a new orientation towards a de-emphasis on obscene scenes, rituals, fetish practices, violent crimes and display of partial or total nudity in the content of African films. The study, therefore, recommends that regulatory bodies set up in most African countries, such as the Nigerian Film and Video Censors Board, should own up to their responsibilities in terms of ensuring strict compliance of African film makers or producers with rules and regulations guiding film production, content of films and exposure guidelines.
Highlights
This section deals with the analysis and interpretation of the quantitative data obtained from a representative sample of the Nigerian film audience regarding their disposition towards contemporary African filmmaking for home video and cinema entertainment and content of African films
While some African film producers are seen as adapting to the emerging trends in filmmaking, in the area of video technology in their productions, there are, some of these producers, the findings have revealed, who still need to undergo proficiency training in the art of filmmaking, with regard to theoretical basis and technical requirements
The study has been able to establish that the content of African films, whether on celluloid or as home videos, needs to be overhauled to reflect purely African values, realities and virtues
Summary
The western world that dominates the art continues to use filmmaking as a channel for the propagation of western culture in all the continents constituting the globe including Africa. This cultural incursion of the West is very much pronounced in the African continent. Colonialism, and the underdevelopment of Africa, with reference to its historical past, render the inherent potential of filmmaking and its utilities as under- exploited These utilities are a platform to use films and filmmaking as vehicles for the presentation and transmission, from generation to generation, of Africa’s cultural heritage; and for developmental purposes, in the areas of health, political development and social integration
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