Netflix, the savior of Nollywood, Nigerian cinema?
The new series from Netflix, Blood sisters.
© Netflix
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
The first Nigerian series co-produced with the streaming giant Netflix will be released on May 5, 2022. Blood Sisters is a thriller that features Sarah and Kemi, two friends forced to flee after one kills the violent husband of the other.
Co-produced with the Nigerian studio Ebony Life, the series is the result of Netflix's new strategy to establish itself on the continent.
And Nollywood, the Nigerian film industry and its more than 1,500 films produced per year, seemed like the perfect playground.
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On the one hand,
the second most productive cinema in the world
behind Bollywood.
On the other, a strong streaming giant with over 220 million subscribers worldwide.
For many, it seemed destined that Netflix and Nollywood would go hand in hand.
Above all to overcome the difficulties encountered by Nigerian cinema, particularly with regard to the distribution of films.
Blood Sisters co-director Kenneth Gyang knows these problems by heart and he is convinced that Netflix has been able to fix some of them: “
I remember when I made my first film, which is called Confusion Na Wa.
It was an international success: it even won the prize for best film at the Africa Movie Academy Award.
But in Nigeria the distributors didn't want it.
They don't want films that are too provocative.
Conversely, Netflix allowed us, the director, to distribute our films
.
»
Film critic in Nigeria, Precious Nwogu has long thought that the streaming giant would be the "
savior of Nollywood
" and that the platform would give free rein to lesser-known projects.
Since then, she has been disillusioned.
In question, the co-production contracts with major Nigerian studios, such as Ebony Life, the studio behind Blood Sisters: “
It's like giving visibility to films that already have it.
Many other lesser-known directors aren't approached by Netflix
.
»
Another problem: according to the media
The Verge
, Netflix only pays 10,000 to 90,000 dollars for African productions.
Very far from the 500 million dollars promised to South Korea for its films.
The series deals with themes that many people experience in their lives, it evokes intra-family relationships, physical violence.
She talks about love and the issue of commitment.
What I also really like about this fiction is that it shows the socio-economic disparities in Africa.
It shows very rich people as well as very poor people, two sides of the same reality.
Mo Abudu, the director of the Nigerian production studio, Ebony Life which produces the series
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