Veteran Filmmaker, Chico Ejiro, has said that today’s Nollywood is filled with people who lack passion for the art of film making.
In a chat with eelive.ng, Chico discusses the Nigerian movie industry of today as opposed to the one he knew and loved; the complete commercialisation of Nollywood, which has led to undermining both the collective values of creatives and the art itself.
“I am not happy. looking back, I think Nollywood was far better, when the foundation was solid, unlike today. In those days, you had good movies from the likes of Tade Ogidan, Zeb Ejiro, Chico Ejiro, Opa Williams, Amaka Igwe. You found well-polished and well-written stories, and great actors who put their art first but now you have everything commercialised, billboards all over, supporting stories that have no lesson to teach. It’s now more of business where you see stars, good camera, good picture, but no passion,” Chico Ejiro said.
Coming from a time when money was not the incentive for acting, the filmmaker describes a time when people acted with their hearts, the passion to act and the willingness to express it. He also commended some of the big stars whom worked with him on different projects, the likes of Jim Iyke, Ramsey Noah, Rita Dominic, Omotola Jalade, and a few others who he says he is happy to have worked with because they complemented each other, he featuring them while they promoted him.
Speaking on the quality of the pictures on screen today he also commented;
“We are improving, considering the quality of equipment available these days. And the idea of making money is not bad because it’s called entertainment, it’s show business. I just think we must not put the business side of things at the expense of the value. It’s about inculcating the value into the business and not the other way round.”
In conclusion, Chico Ejiro described how divided the industry is right now, but with the high hopes that people come together to form a more unified front to confront challenges facing the industry.
Chico Ejiro has a new film out in Cinemas titled “Night bus to Lagos.”