Nollywood actor, filmmaker, producer and philanthropist , Ubong Nse Thompson popular known as Bestman Thompson has revealed why he’s so passionate about the Nigeria movie industry, Nollywood.
He stated that growing up, he used to love watching entertainment programmes on TV. He was really fascinated, not just the actors but people who work behind the scenes.
He said there are other components of filmmaking like the makeup departments ,the camera department etc. that tickles his fancy.
“I wanted to see how it’s been done over there, not just sitting at home and criticizing the film, I wanted to see how the manpower , the hours been put in the film that can represent the African story,” he explained.
Bestman Thompson also stressed that Nollywood is a billion dollar industry that is compared with Hollywood and Bollywood adding that in terms of output, the industry have the highest numbers.
“Most filmmakers in Nollywood are intelligent. I don’t like to associate myself with mediocrity. But even with the little resources at my disposal, because of the environment we are in, and the small funding we get, on like what it is abroad where maybe, the government can actually fund most of the film, but this one you have to work hard to get a loan to shoot the film and then, at the end of the day, you need to also build an audience to watch the film.
“Being in Nollywood has really exposed me to several other things, and filmmaking itself is all about passion. If you look at the money, it might not come. Most importantly, let the passion drive you and your work will actually speak for itself. When you put out beautiful projects and people see it and be like “who is this person? Who did this particular project?” There are lots of good film makers in Nollywood that are doing exceptionally well .
“Back in the days, we are used to the VHS or the Alaba International Market that distribute, but now we have online distributions, the likes of Netflix ,Amazon Prime , they came into the into the system and they’ve seen that Nigeria is a fertile ground to actually plant seeds on and to actually invest in.
“I feel more entities should come in and support filmmakers because we have lots of stories , African stories we can actually tell the world . We can also tell the world that Nigeria is a good place, we’re also doing well on the international stage.
“We have a new government now, even though the past government didn’t really support the industry. Tinubu has also appointed a youth to help head the industry, what do you think could be done harness the potentials that abound in the creative industry or Nollywood.”he concluded.
