The Challenges of Ava DuVernay and Mati Diop To Nigerian Female Filmmakers

The most accomplished black female filmmaker is without dispute, Ava Marie DuVernay, the outstanding award winning African American film director, producer and screenwriter. And following in her trail blazers' status is the French Senegalese Filmmaker, Mati Diop who just became the first black woman to make the Official Selection of the annual Cannes Film Festival in the competition for the Palme d'Or. You can read more about her on my previous updates or read Tambay Obenson's article on
https://www.indiewire.com/2019/04/mati-diop-atlantiques-first-black-woman-cannes-2019-1202059926/.

Both DuVernay and Diop are highly intellectual and philosophical filmmakers with the latter also being psychologically nuanced.
They are as good as the best male directors in cinema and a big challenge to other black female filmmakers. But do we have Nigerian female filmmakers of the same intellectual calibre with them in Nigeria and the Diaspora?
Yes. But they are few; including the most accomplished, Ngozi Onwurah’; Branwen Okpako; Chika Anadu; Michelle Bello; Mildred Okwo and Tope Oshin-Ogun.
The challenges of those I mentioned who work in Nollywood are the scarcity of good actors who understand English grammar for enunciation and interpretation of characters. Majority of the actors and actresses in Nollywood and Kannywood cannot act. They just want to belong to the glitz and razzmatazz of the popularity of Nollywood stars and Kannywood stars. These fundamental challenges have negatively impacted on the overall ratings of Nigerian movies. I have seen many examples of amateurish actors in Nigerian movies by very good filmmakers.

I look forward to seeing these ambitious Nigerian female filmmakers making groundbreaking films with cheers all the way to the top from Cannes to the Oscars.

~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima
Publisher/Editor,
NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series
https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima.