Netflix, US media-services firm, has announced its presence in Nollywood with the launch of a Nigerian twitter account.
In 2018, the streaming giant had shown interest in the country’s entertainment industry after it acquired global rights to ‘Lionheart’, Genevieve Nnaji’s directorial debut and critically acclaimed movie, for $3.8 million.
On Tuesday, the global streaming giant further startled many of its Nigerian fans when it unveiled a new Twitter account with the name Netflix Naija.
“N is for Naija. N is for Nollywood. N is the 14th alphabet. 14 is also how many great talents you’re looking at. N is for Netflix. But most importantly…hello, Nigeria!,” it wrote, in what appeared to be a compliment to Nollywood in an indigenous tongue.
The post was accompanied with a picture of Nollywood stars including Adesua Etomi-Wellington, Banky Wellington, Akin Omotoso, Kemi Adetiba, Richard Mofe-Damijo, Kunle Afolayan, Kate Henshaw, Omoni Oboli and Mo Abudu, among others.
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The development comes about the same time when Kunle Afolayan, a Nigerian filmmaker, shared a photo of himself alongside Ted Sarandos, a US mogul who doubles as Netflix’s chief content officer.
Ose Oyamendan, another filmmaker had earlier acknowledged the role of Netflix‘s streaming platform in projecting Nollywood towards the global industry’s limelight like never before.
“I’ve been to places in the Caribbean where you walk past houses and people are watching Nigerian films. Nollywood is the way a lot of the black diaspora understand their history,” he had said.
Banky W, while speaking on the same issue, added: “Filmmaking in Africa is exploding and Nollywood, in terms of popularity, is leading the charge.
“I hope this generation of Nigerians, Africans, filmmakers, artistes, and creatives is the one that finally turns the fortunes of the continent around.”
