Over the years filmmakers have come and gone but few remain unforgettable due to their incredible directing of major award winning films here are a few names who’ve made names for themselves not only in Nollywood but also in Hollywood.
KUNLE AFOLAYAN
Kunle Afolayan is an actor, producer and director. He is known for elevating and improving the quality of Nollywood movies through the use of larger budgets, shooting on 35mm cameras, releasing in cinemas and improving Nollywood storylines.
He has produced successful films like Irapada, The Figurine and Phone swap.
He also partnered with Netflix to put out hits like Citation, Swallow and Anikulapo. He’s the son of Adeyemi Afolayan although he was trained as a Business Administration with a career in Banking but his lead role in tunde kelani’s award winning ‘Saworoide’ ignited his interest in Film which made him enroll in New York Film Academy in 2005.
FEMI ODUGBEMI
Femi Odigbemi is a filmmaker, writer, television producer, founder and executive producer of Zuri24 Media a content production company in Lagos, Nigeria. He’s a voting member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and sciences and four-time head judge for the African Magic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCA).
His influence extends to international platforms as well having been a juror for the Emmy Awards, The Uganda film festival and Johannesburg International Film Festival.
He has produced many of Africa’s most popular TV series including Nigeria’s longest running soap opera Tinsel and many more series like Battleground, Brethren and MOVEMENT: JAPA.
JETA AMATA
Jeta is a Nigerian filmmaker who is born to popular actor Zack Amata. He comes from a family of veteran filmmakers growing up in the film industry, following his family passion for film, Jeta directed his first film titled “Glamour Boyz at the age of 21 making it no surprise as he bang to rise in the world of the entertainment industry.
His work first went global when he produced a documentary film for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 2003, using his film “Game of life” as footage for the documentary.
He holds over 50 nominations and 10 wins for film awards in Africa Europe and the United States and he is considered one of the most successful West-African filmmakers to come out of Nigeria.
KEMI ADETIBA
KEMI ADETIBA is filmmaker, television director, and music video director, whose works have appeared on Channel O, MTV Base, Soundcity, BET and Netflix.
She started out professionally as a radio presenter with Rhythm 93.7 FM, where she became the voice between two hit shows Soul’d out and Sunday Seaside before transitioning to television where she produced and presented several shows on Mnet. After years of success in front of the camera she enrolled at the New York Film Academy to hone her skills.
On 8 September 2016 her first feature film “The wedding Party” ( a Nigerian rom-com film) premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) as the opening film of the city-to-city spotlight.
These are some of the well known filmmakers to come out of Nigeria and make a name for themselves in Nigeria and abroad however Nigeria’s Nollywood is the second largest global film industry in terms of output.
