TV Buzz: Redi Tlhabi explores Nollywood on South 2 North on Al Jazeera

As the world celebrates 100 years of Bollywood, South 2 North talk show host Redi Tlhabi asks whether Nollywood, the Nigerian film industry, is on a similar trajectory. 

“According to UNESCO, Nollywood is the world’s second most productive film industry after Bollywood,” says Redi. “The fast-paced, high-turnover industry of Nollywood is revolutionising the movie-making model. Nigerians are telling their own stories and making movies their way; without foreign aid or government subsidies.”

Redi will speak to Nigerians Yewande Sadiku and Biyi Bandele, the executive producer and director respectively of Half of a Yellow Sun, the largest budget Nollywood film so far.

Based on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Orange Prize winning novel, Half of a Yellow Sun stars Hollywood-based actors Thandie Newton, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Anika Noni Rose alongside Nollywood stars like Genevieve Nnaji and OC Ukeje, but was funded almost exclusively by Nigerians. Redi will also speak to Franco Sacchi, a Zambian-born Italian filmmaker who made the award-winning documentary This is Nollywood.

What drives Nollywood’s productivity? What can other film industries learn from Nollywood? As Nollywood budgets rise on films like Half of a Yellow Sun, is the industry conforming to international norms or just innovating in different ways? Where will Nollywood be in 80 years when it reaches Bollywood’s current age? Is a pan-African film industry about to emerge? Watch Redi ask the important questions on this week’s episode of South 2 North, which premieres on Al Jazeera at 19:30 GMT on Friday, 3 May 2013 and also screens Saturday at 14h30, Sunday 04h30 and Monday 08h30.