by Akinwande Jordan
God bless the Internet. The boundless aggregate of mass communication. The Alexandrian library of information, misinformation and disinformation. Most notably, it is the crown jewel of modern artists globally. Without gilding the lily, the Internet is how artists of the 21st century become Muhammad, bringing the mountain to their feet. In cinema, the burden of distribution has been, to a considerable degree, mitigated by the Internet.
Though you are not guaranteed the fame and fortune of mainstream success like the industry stalwarts, the entry barrier of sharing your film with sizable audiences has been — on paper —lowered. The dawn of YouTube catalysed the lowering of that barrier; in the reams of vlogs, prank videos, viral music videos, and America’s funniest home videos, there exist the ventures of Nigerian independent filmmakers at the mercy of an ever-changing algorithm across the plains of the globe uploading their cinematic visions of varying quality to audiences…or subscribers.
BARIGA SUGAR (DIR. IFEOMA NKIRUKA CHUKWUOGO)
“It’s not a new phenomenon, honestly speaking. YouTube films were always going to come into existence as an alternative avenue for Nigerian independent filmmakers,” said Ife Olutayo, an independent filmmaker and writer, when asked about the advent of YouTube films in recent years. With the numerous market entry barriers that plague the film industry on practically every tier filmmakers have flocked en masse to this province of the internet to exhibit the full extent of their cinematic ingenuity.
The film distribution companies aren’t explicitly champions of the Nigerian independent filmmakers’ scene — whatever does not fit into the studio or sponsorial system. While profiling Dika Ofoma, a filmmaker and writer, he mentioned in passing the creative freedom, you have enabled the leeway to helm your film without corporate interference or the apprehension about the bottom line. This is a place for purity bereft of distribution politics or the bureaucracy of the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB).
A tomb for the abandoned (Dir. The Critics)
At the crux of it all lies the audience, a crucial factor one must consider in cinema and cinema distribution dynamics. The heterogeneous nature of tastes, the varying reference points and the precedence of audience past. Speaking to cinephiles far and near who actively engage with Nigerian cinema was exceedingly enlightening. When asked about whether or not their interests extend towards the indie scene or whatever we deem countercultural.
https://youtu.be/cn6xI2v_s94?si=m6flp4xYKXv_uxx
THE WAY THINGS HAPPEN (Dika Ofoma, 2022)
“No,” says Lolade, who has a particularly keen interest in Nigerian and Korean cinema. “I honestly think it’s because some of these films are far from the view of the regular Internet, but I am open to watching them”, she concludes with a smidgen of curiosity.
“I actually don’t trust films of that kind because I find them a bit pretentious, but I’ve seen some Nollywood films on YouTube that are a bit entertaining. I’m more into Hollywood American,” Kolade, another cinephile, emphasises his disinterest as a matter of taste and honed preferences primarily.
There’s no abnormality in sharing said disinterest in the films that offer no pomp or marketable splendour, but I shall, in journalistic fashion, serve as a watershed moment. In the hallowed crannies of YouTube, past the fences of film distribution companies like Film One and Blue Pictures — filmmakers like Chukwu Martin, Dika Ofoma, Fathia Gimsay, Damilola Orimogunje, Matthew Adegboye, Ifeoma Nkiruka Chukwuogo and film collectives like The critics. Notably, in a country where the wind blows towards the champions of spectacles and record-breaking blockbusters, we must also appraise (experimental) filmmakers who have done the diligence of screening their films gratis.
A concerted effort between algorithm and audience could further the cinematic crusade of our homegrown industry as seen in foreign-based channels such as OMELETO and DUST. In the imposing vastness of the internet lies diamonds in the rough, brilliant films to be harnessed by audiences and titans of industry — to borrow the old Hollywood cliché; this is where stars are – or could be – born.