Facing a giant screen, hundreds of plastic chairs are quickly taken over by a crowd of young creatives who have come to discover and encourage the emergence of what they call "the new wave" of Nigerian cinema.

The second edition of the S16 festival, which was held at the end of 2022 in Lagos, illustrates the new face of this generation of Nigerian directors determined to free themselves from the capitalist codes of Nollywood, the very powerful cinema industry in Nigeria, which is flooding the African market. romantic comedies and melodramatic blockbusters, while brewing hundreds of millions of euros.

"Nollywood primarily offers entertainment for commercial purposes," said Abba T. Makama, director and co-founder of the S16 festival.

This day, the films screened are as underground as the decor: diverse, innovative, political and full of charm.

Stumbling too.

“Here, we want to celebrate cinema as an art, to shine a spotlight on new voices in independent cinema and to screen films that we are not used to seeing in theaters”, he specifies.

It was in 2016 that Mr. Makama founded the Surreal16 collective with two other Nigerian directors, CJ Obasi and Michael Omonua.

16 rules manifesto

Disillusioned by Nollywood and the profusion of comedies and other films about marriage, omnipresent on the screens, the collective wants to diversify production and encourage a new type of cinema.

He was then inspired by the Dogma 95 film movement, launched by Danish filmmakers Lars Von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg who, in 1995, organized themselves to resist the predominance of Hollywood blockbusters.

A woman watches a Nigerian film on television at her stall in the Idumota market in Lagos, February 19, 2019 © CRISTINA ALDEHUELA / AFP/Archives

Like them, Surreal16 drafted a manifesto and issued 16 rules and guidelines that will henceforth govern their work: no wedding films, no melodrama, no lines or stereotypical characters, no religious propaganda or censorship, etc.

Others give rise to smiles, such as banning the shots of the famous Lagos bridge which joins the wealthy neighborhoods of Ikoyi and Lekki, which can be found in almost every Nollywood film shot in the megalopolis.

"At first it was more of a joke, the idea was to highlight the standardization of films", says Abba T. Makama.

The films presented during their festival seem to have taken them at their word.

Dika Ofoma's short film "a Japa Tale" plunges into the intimacy of a young couple torn between family pressures and the desire to immigrate.

"This festival is a breath of fresh air, because finally I feel represented. I see myself more in these films than in mainstream productions," says Zee, a 23-year-old festival-goer.

All the films screened do not have the same technical quality or the same budget, but here the creation wants above all to provoke a reaction, the discussion.

"Ixora", for example, questions different visions of feminism and celebrates the budding love between two young women, in this very religious country where homosexuality is criminalized.

Selected at Sundance

In the room, the applause resounds at the time of the final scene of the kiss.

An unimaginable episode in a traditional cinema where the film could never have been screened without the approval of the Nigerian censorship committee.

"The community of film lovers continues to grow in Lagos and other major cities in Nigeria," notes Aderinsola Ajao, film critic and founder of Screen Out Loud, a film club that regularly screens independent films at the French Alliance of Lagos.

In addition to cultural centers, alternative places of projection are multiplying, in bars or even building courtyards and apartment terraces where white sheets pulled against a wall serve as a screen and act as a cinema under the stars.

The community is also organizing online, broadcasting these films on Youtube, or creating film clubs on WhatsApp groups.

"Almost every day, I discover new directors", marvels Ms. Ajao.

And they are now aware of the existence "of an audience for their film in Nigeria, but also abroad".

In recent years, several short and feature films have been programmed in internationally renowned festivals.

In 2020, "Eyimofe" by the Esiri brothers, a feature film depicting the daily life of two young people trying to survive in the chaos of Lagos, was selected for the Berlinale.

This year, "Mami Wata" by CJ Obasi, which honors the West African goddess of the sea, is scheduled for the Californian festival of Sundance 2023.

With this film shot in black and white and totally "out of the ordinary", its director says he wants to "offer a new look at what our cinema could be".

© 2023 AFP