I attended the Nollywood Conference this past Friday and Saturday

Hello all!

How you doing?

This past Saturday I was a panelist at the Nollywood Foundation Conference that took place in Los Angeles. For those that don’t know what "Nollywood" is, it’s the Nigerian Film Industry and it’s the third biggest film production center in the world. Nollywood grosses about $200 – $300 million US dollars a year (the Nigerian currency is called as the “Naira”.

There were great panels, and I met many fellow media people, the majority Nigerians who are based in Hollywood, and they’re doing things, producing, writing, acting, and directing.

Unlike many other film festivals which tend to be filled by the lost and the desperate and the big-headed who have know money acting like they do; this was strictly a conference where ideas were shared, and relationships were either developed, or strengthened. What I noticed was that there were many people in attendence that are active in the industries both here and in Nigeria / Continental Africa. Many people from Nigeria and across the US came to LA to participate. Many didn’t come looking for handouts or begging to be in someone’s film like I see at other film festivals. Folks came to network and to acquire new strategies.

Panels were varied. I sat on an informative (for the audience and for myself) panel on Friday that talked about “Film Financing”. The Saturday panel was about reaching out and engaging the Diaspora. This was the first time I saw a panel that talked about reaching out to the African global community actually had Africans sitting on the panel.

There was a panel about women in film and Nollywood. This panel at times got heated, and the women made sure to get their point across!!!

Okay, that’s all for now, when I get my photos developed, I’ll be sure to post them here!

Later on,

Said