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Recent reports from insiders in the African movie making industry appear to indicate that widespread decline has set in, causing a significant decrease in the production of movies. Dubbed Gollywood in Ghana and Nollywood in Nigeria, the two West African countries have dominated the African movie industry the past few decades. To their credit, they pioneered their own unique method of producing movies that made it possible to make low budget movies at a pace even Hollywood can’t match.

As a result, movie production became a major segment  of the African entertainment and music industry. Their mantra: making movies for audiences who preferred to watch movies made by Africans, featuring African talent. It is a niche market that had been ignored by Hollywood for reasons that are easy to understand. Mainstream movie companies see little or no potential in making money from movies produced specifically for African audiences.

A leading African-American producer has long recognized the need for African and African-Americans to partner and collaborate on movie projects. The need is more pressing now, considering the reported decline in production in Nollywood and Gollywood. Princess Angelique Monet of New York city has suggested that African movie makers and their African-American counterparts should partner and collaborate. The expertise, experience and knowledge that African Americans have gained over the years in making movies combined with the raw talent and resourcefulness of Africans will make it possible for them to produce movies that will meet the global demand for Afrocentric movies.

A major player in the entertainment and movie industry based in New York City, Monet has been actively involved in arts based projects that showcase talent from all over the globe, including talent from Asia, the  Middle East, Australia and elsewhere.   She is currently working on a movie that focuses on a theme relating to life in an urban setting for an African and African-American couple. It explores the similarities as well as the dissimilarities in cultural sensibilities, social mores and values and the challenges and problems the couple faces in their daily lives as they navigate a terrain made more difficult by race bias and prejudice against non-whites

“We are a New Generation In Action, and it is crucial to merge top talents around the globe to make beautiful stories that help with diversity, multiculturalism, and inclusion. There are many talented filmmakers and actors in Africa, and it is beautiful to have the resources to produce a film that shows the beauty of love. However, culture is often what defines us, and can bring us together or apart, ” said multi-media personality Princess Angelique Monet

Partnering and collaborating between African-Americans and Africans in movie production will create opportunities to do a lot more, according to Monet “We will have world wide distribution, the film will be available on demand. We also have plans to go to Ghana and Nigeria to bring Hollywood filmmakers and actors to train the actors in the industry and to work abroad. As many African actors are taking the spotlight, it is also crucial African Americans be included. We will make this happen,” stated

Monét

From the onset, both Nigeria’s Nollywood and Ghana’s Gollywood turned out to be precisely what was needed by African actors and actresses looking for ways to showcase their talent. What they lacked were movie projects. It didn’t take long for them to emerge as a major industry responsible for creating a whole new world of celebrity actors, actresses, producers and a celebrity culture with its own brand of glitterati, beautiful and elegant women,  handsome men, all aglow with stardom. Stars like Genevieve Nnaji became trendsetters in fashions with a distinct African flava.

In spite of questions about quality, demand for African made movies has remained consistently huge. So what happened? Why the decline and what is the solution? Various reasons have been cited for contributing to the decline in movie production in Ghana and Nigeria. Actress Both Zynnell Zuh from Ghana, who doubles as a movie producer has stated that the main problem facing the Ghana movie industry is the limited market it focuses on. According to her, the small size of the Ghanaian market makes it difficult for producers to recoup monies invested in movies and are subsequently unable to produce more movies. .

Zynell says the solution to the problem is to produce movies with a crossover appeal that can be marketed in other African countries.
“Ghana doesn’t have the numbers. We don’t have the market here so there is a limit to how much a producer can invest in a production because…. if your movie doesn’t have the crossover appeal for you to market it in Nigeria, Kenya or somewhere else, you can’t even break even. If you can’t break even, you can’t continue producing because you are making a loss. we need to sell to other countries,” she said in a recent interview.

Nollywood and Gollywood face a challenge of immense proportions. Nigeria’s is the biggest film industry in Africa and pumps out around 50 low budget movies per week with an estimated $600 annual revenues, it is also Nigeria’s second biggest provider of work, employing directly or indirectly more than one million people, according to the United States International Trade Commission. Ghana’s Nollywood is similarly positioned and plays a major role in the country’s economic development.
It is time for Nollywood and Gollywood to make a serious effort at making movies that can compete with Hollywood — not just in quantity but also quality. One way to accomplish that objective is to explore the potential of partnering and collaborating with African-American movie makers and producers.

African-American producer Angelique Monet has taken the initiative and urges others to follow suit and lay an active role in making it happen. . “We will  be the first, a liaison not only African Americans. producers seeking to explore the Diaspora and our film slates includes top Bollywood, Hollywood, Latinos, and African talent.  In order to aide in economic sustainability, we must provide training, so the African Nollywood and Gollywood talents can have the resources. Our company is set up as an Non Governmental Organization to aide in these matters, and Greta Joanne Entertainment will act as a distributor, production company. We also plan to partner with musicians, television stations that will allow us to fuse music of all genres. Our plans are in motion, and our first production begins the first week of November,” stated Princess Angelique Monét.

She is also a Dame of the Order of Malta, Cavalier St. Sylvester, Princess “fons honorum” of Aquitaine (Medieval Time Period non reigning), the world’s only stage actress ventriloquist, actress, musician, humanitarian, and socialite. Monét plans to use all her skill sets to re-direct the future and need for the African and African Americans to begin working together.