Bride and joy of Nollywood hints at healthy future

LAGOS - Nigerian film The Wedding Party has shown the country's cinema at the top of its game, with its success at the box office taking it to new audiences across Africa and the world.

The country may well be in recession but Nollywood, which churns out some 2,000 films a year and is the world's second-biggest film industry outside India, has never been healthier.

The Wedding Party is a madcap comedy that tells the story of the marriage of Dunny and Dozie against the backdrop of their families' rivalry.

One family is Igbo and the other Yoruba - two of the main ethnic groups in Nigeria.

The film's director, Kemi Adetiba, admitted that she hadn't expected it to be so successful.

In the two months since its release, the film, which is still showing in cinemas, has already generated 400 million naira ($1.3 million), shattering the west African nation's previous record.

Until then, the record was the 178.5 million naira made by A Trip to Jamaica, which also came out last year, showing that homegrown films can be more popular than Hollywood blockbusters.

At a cinema in Lagos, the audience cried with laughter at the sight of hundreds of guests of the bride and groom trying to outdo one another in frenzied traditional dances.

Betty, a 27-year-old Lagos entrepreneur, has seen the film three times but said she still finds it funny. She said the dance contest was her favorite scene.

"That's exactly the way we are in terms of weddings. Our weddings are very colorful, our weddings are a lot of laugh time, a lot of dancing, a lot of drama, that's who we are," she said.

Another cinemagoer, Joy, said the film sends out a message by mocking the intolerance and mistrust that often characterize relationships between Nigeria's different ethnic groups.

"The movie is like two sides of Nigerians: the Igbos and Yorubas, the toughest part in Nigeria," she said.

"It is like harmonizing the two parts together and making us understanding why we need to be together, no matter the tribe."

About a dozen Nigerian films including The Wedding Party have been shown at international film festivals, including in Toronto in September.

The improving quality of local productions, the explosion of pan-African satellite television channels and the opening of more modern cinemas, has helped the industry take off.

In 2014, Nollywood generated $7.2 billion or 1.4 percent of Nigeria's economy, according to the Oxford Business Group.

But beyond the modernization of the sector, it's the "Nigerian touch" of the film that's made The Wedding Party a success, its director said.

"We wanted people to be able to turn around and go, 'That's my mum, that's my auntie.' And that's what happened."