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94-503: Since the early 2000s, several discussions and conferences have been held, based on how to revamp the Nigerian film industry and bring about more professionalism like it used to be in the golden era. During this time, some other filmmakers, such as Tunde Kelani and Tade Ogidan tried to make "break away" films, which were supposedly different from the norm. The now defunct Amstel Malta Box Office production company also made several films with

188-476: A cinematographer . Some of the 16mm feature films he worked on include: Anikura ; Ogun Ajaye ; Iya Ni Wura ; Taxi Driver ; Iwa and Fopomoyo . In 1990, Kelani was an assistant director and an actor in the 1990 film Mister Johnson , the first American film shot on location in Nigeria . Starring Pierce Brosnan and Maynard Eziashi , the film was based on a 1939 novel by Joyce Cary . TK developed

282-402: A phoneme /n/ ; the letter ⟨n⟩ is used for the sound in the orthography, but strictly speaking, it refers to an allophone of /l/ immediately preceding a nasal vowel. There is also a syllabic nasal , which forms a syllable nucleus by itself. When it precedes a vowel, it is a velar nasal [ŋ] : n ò lọ [ŋ ò lɔ̄] 'I didn't go'. In other cases, its place of articulation

376-490: A syllable has been elided. For example: nlá 'to be large', originally a compound of ní 'to have' + lá 'to be big' and súfèé 'to whistle', originally a compound of sú 'to eject wind' + òfé or ìfé 'a blowing'. Vowels serve as nominalizing prefixes that turn a verb into a noun form. Nominal roots are mostly disyllabic , for example: abà 'crib, barn', ara 'body', ibà 'fever'. Monosyllabic and even trisyllabic roots do occur but they are less common. Yoruba

470-467: A Stranger (2007), which were all produced using digital cinematography . Ecobank also funded a multimillion Naira distribution network across the country during this period. In 2010, the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan launched a ₦30 billion (US$ 200 million) "Creative and Entertainment Industry" Intervention Fund, financed by Bank of Industry (BOI), in conjunction with Nigerian Export and Import (NEXIM) Bank . This grant, although dubbed as

564-582: A cinema was the Yoruba-language film Irapada (2006) by Kunle Afolayan , which was screened at the Silverbird Galleria in Lagos. The Silverbird experiment became very successful, and as a result, the group launched few more cinema branches in Lagos and other cities in the country. Not long after the establishment of Silverbird cinemas, Genesis Deluxe Cinemas and Ozone Cinemas were also launched creating

658-443: A competition in the cinema business. However, the cinemas at start were still very under-patronized, as most of them were established in the upscale areas; "It hardly makes sense for people to travel far to indulge in the pleasure of watching films, especially with the attendant problems of traffic and logistics", stated Jide Kosoko , pushing for establishment of theatres in inner neighbourhoods and Local Government Areas. Much later, in

752-420: A consonant has been elided word-internally. In such cases, the tone of the elided vowel is retained: àdìrò → ààrò 'hearth'; koríko → koóko 'grass'; òtító → òótó 'truth'. Most verbal roots are monosyllabic of the phonological shape CV(N), for example: dá 'to create', dán 'to polish', pọ́n 'to be red'. Verbal roots that do not seem to follow this pattern are mostly former compounds in which

846-566: A distinction between human and non-human nouns when it comes to interrogative particles: ta ni for human nouns ('who?') and kí ni for non-human nouns ('what?'). The associative construction (covering possessive /genitive and related notions) consists of juxtaposing nouns in the order modified-modifier as in inú àpótí {inside box} 'the inside of the box', fìlà Àkàndé 'Akande's cap' or àpótí aṣọ 'box for clothes'. More than two nouns can be juxtaposed: rélùweè abẹ́ ilẹ̀ (railway underground) 'underground railway', inú àpótí aṣọ 'the inside of

940-511: A large film industry. As a result of the inability to make profits through only cinema earnings, many of the new filmmakers have resorted to sponsorships and product placements as a means of recouping production costs. An example of such filmmakers is Kunle Afolayan , who stated that sponsorship could fund about 30 to 50 percent of a film's budget. Afolayan in particular has also cultivated the habit of screening his films in public halls and theatres, especially in areas lacking cinemas. Tunde Kelani

1034-516: A novel by Olayinka Egbokhare, is a love story about how a sickle-cell sufferer overcomes social stigma, prejudice and her own low self-esteem, to achieve success, marriage and motherhood. Through the movie, he hopes to bring much needed awareness and attention to the sickle-cell condition and help people make better informed decisions. Yoruba-language Yoruba ( US : / ˈ j ɔːr ə b ə / , UK : / ˈ j ɒr ʊ b ə / ; Yor. Èdè Yorùbá , IPA: [jōrùbá] )

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1128-497: A plural of respect may have prevented the coalescence of the two in NWY dialects. Central Yoruba forms a transitional area in that the lexicon has much in common with NWY and shares many ethnographical features with SEY. Its vowel system is the most traditional of the three dialect groups, retaining nine oral-vowel contrasts, six or seven nasal vowels, and an extensive vowel harmony system. Peculiar to Central and Eastern (NEY, SEY) Yoruba also

1222-540: A result discouraging poor film production; the cinema culture in the Nigerian cities with film theatres started experiencing a significant improvement, and with huge potentials. However, well produced Nigerian films were generally very few at the time; even at that, most films screened were produced in Yoruba-language , because they attracted more crowd, compared to a typical English-language film which often had no viewers when screened. The first New wave film to be shown at

1316-426: A smaller new grant of ₦3 billion (US$ 20 million) was awarded once again solely for Nollywood, and specifically for the production of high quality films. Other films that benefitted from one "Project Nollywood" grant or another include: Flower Girl (2013), Half of a Yellow Sun (2013) and The Department (2015). Several filmmakers were also sponsored for formal training in film schools with this grant. In 2015,

1410-404: A soft spot for reading at a very young age and this later developed into his favourite pastime. Starting with the five works of D. O. Fagunwa , which include Igbo Olodumare , Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmale , Aditu Olodumare, Irinkerindo Ninu Igbo Elegbeje and Ireke Onibudo , he immersed himself in any literal work he could get his hands on in both Yoruba and English language. Once he discovered

1504-423: A spin-off of "Project Nollywood", was for the entire Nigerian Creative Arts and Entertainment sector. The vision of the grant for the film industry however is to help more Nigerian filmmakers in training, funding, and also help in creating necessary infrastructure for the industry. One of the major distribution companies established through this loan is FilmHouse Cinemas. Started by Kene Mparu and Kene Okwuosa in 2012,

1598-801: A vision received in his sleep which he believed to have been granted by Oduduwa . This Oduduwa script has also received support from other prominent chiefs in the Yorubaland region of both countries. The syllable structure of Yoruba is (C)V(N). Syllabic nasals are also possible. Every syllable bears one of the three tones: high ⟨◌́⟩ , mid ⟨◌̄⟩ (generally left unmarked), and low ⟨◌̀⟩ . The sentence n̄ ò lọ ( I didn't go ) provides examples of three syllable types: Standard Yoruba has seven oral and five nasal vowels. There are no diphthongs in Yoruba; sequences of vowels are pronounced as separate syllables. Dialects differ in

1692-405: Is Omo Ghetto: The Saga (2020), which grossed approximately ₦636 million. As of 2013, Nigerian cinema is rated as the third most valuable film industry in the world based on its worth and overall revenues generated. Since the early 2000s, several discussions and conferences have been held, based on how to revamp the Nigerian film industry and bring about more professionalism like it used to be in

1786-399: Is homorganic with the following consonant: ó ń lọ [ó ń lɔ̄] 'he is going', ó ń fò [ó ḿ fò] 'he is jumping'. C, Q, V, X and Z only appear in words borrowed from English. Yoruba is a tonal language with three-level tones and two or three contour tones. Every syllable must have at least one tone; a syllable containing a long vowel can have two tones. Tones are marked by use of

1880-444: Is mi . Apart from tone's lexical and grammatical use, it is also used in other contexts such as whistling and drumming. Whistled Yoruba is used to communicate over long distances. The language is transformed as speakers talk and whistle simultaneously: consonants are devoiced or turned to [h], and all vowels are changed to [u]. However, all tones are retained without any alteration. The retention of tones enables speakers to understand

1974-549: Is a Collective Management Organization set up to help prevent creative works from being duplicated and overused by unauthorised bodies. It is affiliated to World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) and the Nigeria Film Corporation (NFC) with the sole purpose of overseeing the collection and distribution of the royalties on behalf of the copyright owners in

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2068-555: Is a Nigerian filmmaker . In a career spanning more than four decades, TK specialises in producing movies that promote Nigeria's rich cultural heritage and have a root in documentation, archiving, education , entertainment and promotion of the culture. He is also known for his love of adaptation of literary material into movies as most of his works have followed that style of filmmaking, including Ko se Gbe , O le ku , Thunder Bolt , The Narrow Path , White Handkerchief , Maami and Dazzling Mirage . At an early age, he

2162-653: Is a language that is spoken in West Africa , primarily in Southwestern and Central Nigeria. It is spoken by the Yoruba people . Yoruba speakers number roughly 47 million, including about 2 million second-language speakers. As a pluricentric language , it is primarily spoken in a dialectal area spanning Nigeria , Benin , and Togo with smaller migrated communities in Côte d'Ivoire , Sierra Leone and The Gambia . Yoruba vocabulary

2256-490: Is a highly isolating language . Its basic constituent order is subject–verb–object , as in ó nà Adé 'he beat Adé'. The bare verb stem denotes a completed action, often called perfect; tense and aspect are marked by preverbal particles such as ń 'imperfect/present continuous', ti 'past'. Negation is expressed by a preverbal particle kò . Serial verb constructions are common, as in many other languages of West Africa . Although Yoruba has no grammatical gender , it has

2350-433: Is a widespread phenomenon, and it is absent only in slow, unnatural speech. The orthography here follows speech in that word divisions are normally not indicated in words that are contracted due to assimilation or elision: ra ẹja → rẹja 'buy fish'. Sometimes, however, authors may choose to use an inverted comma to indicate an elided vowel as in ní ilé → n'ílé 'in the house'. Long vowels within words usually signal that

2444-667: Is also used in African diaspora religions such as the Afro-Brazilian religion of Candomblé , the Caribbean religion of Santería in the form of the liturgical Lucumí language , and various Afro-American religions of North America . Most modern practitioners of these religions in the Americas are not fluent in the Yoruba language, yet they still use Yoruba words and phrases for songs or chants—rooted in cultural traditions. For such practitioners,

2538-454: Is another notable filmmaker who usually employs this method of distribution. Another method filmmakers use in recouping investments is by organizing premium private screenings for corporate organizations, as well as entering into deals with pay-TV networks and free-to-air broadcasters across the continent. Online film rights are also acquired by Video on demand platforms across the continent and beyond. Some other filmmakers have also turned

2632-451: Is controversial. Several authors have argued it is not phonemically contrastive. Often, it is in free variation with [ɔ̃] . Orthographically , ⟨ọn⟩ is used after labial and labial-velar consonants, as in ìbọn 'gun', and ⟨an⟩ is used after non-labial consonants, as in dán 'to shine'. All vowels are nasalized after the consonant /m/ , and thus there is no additional n in writing ( mi, mu, mọ ). In addition,

2726-504: Is no longer profitable at the moment. Some filmmakers also believed the good films are better restricted to the cinemas, as it's ridiculous to make such outstanding efforts only to make the films disappear into a "mob of useless films" which were still prevalent as of 2012, despite the New Cinema movement. This notion made screening at the cinemas to also become like a criterion for viewers to discern which film to hit or miss. However, unlike in

2820-492: Is particularly common with Yoruba–English bilinguals. Like many other languages of the region, Yoruba has the voiceless and voiced labial–velar stops /k͡p/ and /ɡ͡b/ : pápá [k͡pák͡pá] 'field', gbogbo [ɡ͡bōɡ͡bō] 'all'. Notably, it lacks a voiceless bilabial stop /p/ , apart from phonaesthesia , such as [pĩpĩ] for vehicle horn sounds, and marginal segments found in recent loanwords, such as <pẹ́ńsù> [k͡pɛ́ńsù~pɛ́ńsù] for "pencil". Yoruba also lacks

2914-490: Is the ability to begin words with the vowel [ʊ:], which in Western Yoruba has been changed to [ɪ:] Literary Yoruba, also known as Standard Yoruba , Yoruba koiné , and common Yoruba , is a separate member of the dialect cluster. It is the written form of the language, the standard variety learned at school, and that is spoken by newsreaders on the radio. Standard Yoruba has its origin in the 1850s, when Samuel A. Crowther ,

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3008-410: Is the most favourably used. This is because eti , the Yoruba word for Friday, means 'delay'. This is an unpleasant word for Friday, Ẹtì , which also implies failure, laziness, or abandonment. Ultimately, the standard words for the days of the week are Àìkú, Ajé, Ìṣẹ́gun, Ọjọ́rú, Ọjọ́bọ, Ẹtì, Àbámẹ́ta, for Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday respectively. Friday remains Eti in

3102-494: Is to critically review all the film scripts and associated budgets submitted to the Bank of Industry by film producers and make "technical recommendations to the management for final credit appraisal and subsequent approval in line with the Bank's Credit Policy". The popular 2009 thriller film The Figurine is generally considered the game changer, which heightened the media attention towards " New Nigerian Cinema " revolution. The film

3196-408: Is used in one syllable, the vowel can either be written once for each tone (for example, * ⟨òó⟩ for a vowel [o] with tone rising from low to high) or, more rarely in current usage, combined into a single accent. In this case, a caron ⟨ˇ⟩ is used for the rising tone (so the previous example would be written ⟨ǒ⟩ ), and a circumflex ⟨ˆ⟩ for

3290-415: The 1970s . During this time, some other filmmakers tried to make "break away" films, which were quite different from the norm; such films include: Thunderbolt (2001) by Tunde Kelani , Dangerous Twins (2004) by Tade Ogidan, Madam dearest (2005) also by Tade Ogidan and 30 Days by Mildred Okwo amongst other. The now defunct Amstel Malta Box Office production company also made several films with

3384-805: The Itsekiri and isolate Igala from the Yoruboid group of languages within the Volta–Niger branch of the Niger–Congo family. The linguistic unity of the Niger–Congo family dates to deep pre-history, estimates ranging around 11,000 years ago (the end of the Upper Paleolithic ). In present-day Nigeria , it is estimated that there are around 50 million Yoruba primary and secondary language speakers, as well as several other millions of speakers outside Nigeria, making it

3478-467: The Silverbird Galleria in Victoria Island, Lagos . Not long after the establishment of Silverbird cinemas, Genesis Deluxe Cinemas and Ozone Cinemas were also launched, creating a competition in the cinema business. Much later, in the 2010s, Film House cinemas and Viva cinemas also came into the picture, leading into wider availability of cinemas in the country, and most importantly, availability outside

3572-565: The Video film era , films in the new wave are generally of much improved quality, with considerably bigger budgets; averaging between ₦40 million (US$ 250,000) and ₦120 million ($ 750,000). These films' production periods take months and even span into years, a far cry from the films in video format which are usually shot in a matter of days or weeks. Other notable improvements in the New Nollywood include: more subtle performances from actor, different from

3666-473: The root of the tongue retracted (so ⟨ẹ⟩ is pronounced [ɛ̙] and ⟨ọ⟩ is [ɔ̙] ). ⟨ṣ⟩ represents a postalveolar consonant [ʃ] like the English ⟨sh⟩ , ⟨y⟩ represents a palatal approximant like English ⟨y⟩ , and ⟨j⟩ a voiced palatal stop [ɟ] , as is common in many African orthographies. In addition to

3760-510: The video film era was built and sustained on its framework, which ironically eventually became its downfall and has become a major problem in the industry. The problem has become almost incorporated into the Nigerian distribution system, as the people involved at this time are mostly unprofessional film people of the video boom period, who are now out of business but still want to retain their wealthy status. Tunde Kelani Tunde Kelani (born 26 February 1948), popularly known as TK ,

3854-610: The 17th century, Yoruba was written in the Ajami script , a form of Arabic script . It is still written in the Ajami writing script in some Islamic circles. Standard Yoruba orthography originated in the early work of Church Mission Society missionaries working among the Aku (Yoruba) of Freetown . One of their informants was Crowther, who later would proceed to work on his native language himself. In early grammar primers and translations of portions of

New Nigerian Cinema - Misplaced Pages Continue

3948-583: The 2010s, Filmhouse Cinema also came into the picture, leading to more cinemas in the country and availability outside the affluent neighbourhoods. In 2006, "Project Nollywood" was launched by the Nigerian Government, in conjunction with Ecobank . The project provided ₦100 million (US$ 781,000) to Nigerian filmmakers to produce high quality films. Films produced with this grant include: Charles Novia 's Caught In The Middle (2007), Chico Ejiro 's 100 Days In The Jungle (2007) and Fred Amata's Letters to

4042-486: The Bank of Industry (BOI) launched another "NollyFund" program for the purpose of giving financial support in form of loans to film producers. A NollyFund Implementation Advisory Group was set up for the program, in order to ensure that only commercially viable scripts with good storylines benefit from the scheme. The group consist of cinema management experts, national film distributors, production and post-production experts, film critics, and film producers; their sole purpose

4136-585: The English Bible, Crowther used the Latin alphabet largely without tone markings. The only diacritic used was a dot below certain vowels to signify their open variants [ɛ] and [ɔ] , viz. ⟨ẹ⟩ and ⟨ọ⟩ . Over the years, the orthography was revised to represent tone, among other things. In 1875, the Church Missionary Society (CMS) organized a conference on Yoruba Orthography;

4230-470: The Glass (2008) by Stephanie Okereke , Anchor Baby (2010) by Lonzo Nzekwe, Inale (2010) by Jeta Amata , Tango with Me (2010) by Mahmood Ali-Balogun and The Mirror Boy (2011) by Obi Emelonye , amongst others. By the end of 2013, the film industry reportedly hit a record breaking revenue of ₦1.72 trillion (US$ 11 billion). As of 2014, the industry was worth ₦853.9 billion ( US$ 5.1 billion) making it

4324-582: The Oke-Ona Primary School in Ikija, Abeokuta, and had his secondary school education at Abeokuta Grammar School . During this time, his grandfather was a chief (the Balogun of Ijaiye Kukudi) and he was privileged to have witnessed at close quarters most aspects of Yoruba ways of life, the Yoruba religion, Yoruba literature , Yoruba philosophy , Yoruba environments and the Yoruba world view in arts . He

4418-511: The Yoruba lexicon is especially common for ritual purposes, and these modern manifestations have taken new forms that don't depend on vernacular fluency. As the principal Yoruboid language , Yoruba is most closely related to these languages Itsekiri (spoken in the Niger Delta ) and Igala (spoken in central Nigeria). Yoruba is classified among the Edekiri languages , which is together with

4512-415: The acute accent for high tone ( ⟨á⟩ , ⟨ń⟩ ) and the grave accent for low tone ( ⟨à⟩ , ⟨ǹ⟩ ); mid is unmarked, except on syllabic nasals where it is indicated using a macron ( ⟨a⟩ , ⟨n̄⟩ ). Examples: When teaching Yoruba literacy, solfège names of musical notes are used to name the tones: low is do , mid is re , and high

4606-454: The affluent neighbourhoods. Since 2006, there have been several "Project Nollywood" funds by the Nigerian Government, provided to filmmakers, in order to aid the production of high quality films, as well as to aid proper distribution infrastructure across the country. The grants have also been used to help more Nigerian filmmakers to go for formal training in film schools. As at 2020, the highest grossing film in Nigerian contemporary film history

4700-494: The aim of making a difference. However, all of these films were also produced in the same video format that the other filmmakers used, albeit with quality stories and better directions. In the Golden Age , the cinema culture was very vibrant amongst Nigerians. However, the culture started declining towards the late 1980s and the cinema business came crumbling into the 1990s. Few years into the 21st century, Nigeria began to experience

4794-432: The aim of making a difference. However, all of these films were also produced in the same video format that the other filmmakers used, albeit with quality stories and better directions. New Nigerian Cinema finally emerged in the mid-2000s with the release of films such as Irapada (2006) and The Amazing Grace (2006). The Figurine (2009) by Kunle Afolayan is generally regarded as the break out film, which heightened

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4888-475: The cinema chain as at 2014 has modern theatres in four cities in Nigeria, including Lagos , Ibadan , Asaba and Calabar , with plans to have at least 25 cinemas across the country. Other distribution companies who benefitted from the grant include: Silverbird Cinemas, Ozone Cinemas, Viva Cinemas and G-Media. The 2012 film Doctor Bello (2012) by Tony Abulu is the first film to be funded with this grant. In 2013,

4982-555: The clothes box'. Disambiguation is left to context in the rare case that it results in two possible readings. Plural nouns are indicated by a plural word. There are two 'prepositions': ní 'on, at, in' and sí 'onto, towards'. The former indicates location and absence of movement, and the latter encodes location/direction with movement. Position and direction are expressed by the prepositions in combination with spatial relational nouns like orí 'top', apá 'side', inú 'inside', etí 'edge', abẹ́ 'under', ilẹ̀ 'down', etc. Many of

5076-451: The consonant /l/ has a nasal allophone [n] before a nasal vowel (see below ), and this is reflected in writing: inú 'inside, belly' ( /īlṹ/ → [īnṹ] ). The voiceless plosives /t/ and /k/ are slightly aspirated; in some Yoruba varieties, /t/ and /d/ are more dental. The rhotic consonant is realized as a flap [ɾ] or, in some varieties (notably Lagos Yoruba), as the alveolar approximant [ɹ] due to English influence. This

5170-505: The division of titles into war and civil is unknown. Linguistically, SEY has retained the /ɣ/ and /gw/ contrast, while it has lowered the nasal vowels /ĩ/ and /ʊ̃/ to /ɛ̃/ and /ɔ̃/, respectively. SEY has collapsed the second and third-person plural pronominal forms; thus, àn án wá can mean either 'you (pl.) came' or 'they came' in SEY dialects, whereas NWY for example has ẹ wá 'you (pl.) came' and wọ́n wá 'they came', respectively. The emergence of

5264-555: The drought and to Zimbabwe three times to cover independence there. Once he finished from the London Film School, he returned to Nigeria and co-produced his first film with Adebayo Faleti , called The Dilemma of Rev. Father Michael ( Idaamu Paadi Minkailu ). Other co-producers include Alhaji Lasisi Oriekun, Wale Fanubi – his partner from Cinekraft, Yemi Farounbi and screenplay by Lola Fani-Kayode . Kelani has also worked on most feature films produced in Nigeria in his capacity as

5358-483: The emergence of a common Yoruba identity. The earliest evidence of the presence of Islam and literacy goes back to the 14th century. The earliest documented history of the people, traced to the latter part of the 17th century, was in the Yoruba but in the Arabic script called Ajami . This makes Yoruba one of the oldest African languages with an attested history of Ajami (Cf. Mumin & Versteegh 2014; Hofheinz 2018). However,

5452-417: The essence of who we are as Nigerians, as Africans [...] It is a new movement, it's a renaissance, it's a rebirth if you like -- perhaps even a throwback to the 70s but obviously with a very, very modern tint, a very modern glaze to it -- and it's exciting,". Filmmaker Victor Okhai says: "It is expected that the quality of films will improve. We are at a stage where we can no longer play the mediocre". Unlike

5546-405: The expansion of current distribution system and to help boost the number and quality of distribution options, including technology-based solutions such as digital streaming. In June 2015, Business Day estimated that about ₦7.5 billion (US$ 46 million) is lost to copyright violation yearly in Nigeria. It is particularly difficult to curb infringement in the Nigerian film industry, majorly because

5640-609: The falling tone. In Benin , Yoruba uses a different orthography. The Yoruba alphabet was standardized along with other Benin languages in the National Languages Alphabet by the National Language Commission in 1975, and revised in 1990 and 2008 by the National Center for Applied Linguistics . In 2011, a Beninese priest-chief by the name of Tolúlàṣẹ Ògúntósìn devised a new script for Yoruba, based on

5734-412: The film industry. In January 2015, the Nigerian Government launched another project tagged "Innovation Distribution Fund (IDF)" under the existing "Project Nollywood" to help protect copyright, by helping to expand and standardize the film distribution system. The fund was targeted at businesses operating or seeking to operate in the film distribution sector; it aimed to co-finance new channels and support

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5828-407: The films were copied immediately following their DVD releases; examples of films given huge media attention due to infringement include: Maami (2011) by Tunde Kelani and Half of a Yellow Sun . The phenomenon became a major national concern in 2015, after October 1 (2014) by Kunle Afolayan was leaked even before it was released on DVD. This turn of events raised several questions on how this

5922-520: The first native African Anglican bishop, published a Yoruba grammar and started his translation of the Bible. Though for a large part based on the Ọyọ and Ibadan dialects, Standard Yoruba incorporates several features from other dialects. It also has some features peculiar to itself, for example, the simplified vowel harmony system, as well as foreign structures, such as calques from English that originated in early translations of religious works. Because

6016-539: The growth of cinemas, which was initially structured for the middle and upper class. The Silverbird Group is the first company to launch a series of modern Cinema houses across major cities in Nigeria, mostly situated in affluent areas and districts. It launched its cinema chains in 2004, starting with the Silverbird Galleria in Victoria Island, Lagos . The Silverbird Galleria is a large shopping mall, with an upscale cinema facility and various outlets where mercantile activities take place. This provides more reasons to visit

6110-485: The major challenges in the New Nigerian Cinema; this owes to the initial unavailability of enough cinemas, thereby making it particularly difficult (though not impossible) for filmmakers to recoup their investments. As at 2014, Nigeria had just 23 movie theatres, with approximately hundred screens. This was pretty small for a population of 170 million, with a rapidly emerging middle class. More so, too small to sustain

6204-475: The meaning of the whistled language. The Yoruba talking drum , the dùndún or iya ilu , which accompanies singing during festivals and important ceremonies, also uses tone. Written Yoruba includes diacritical marks not available on conventional computer keyboards, requiring some adaptations. In particular, the use of the sub dots and tone marks are not represented, so many Yoruba documents simply omit them. Asubiaro Toluwase, in his 2014 paper, points out that

6298-544: The media attention towards " New Nigerian Cinema " revolution, due to its critical and commercial success in Nigeria, as well as screenings in notable international film festivals. Few years into the 2000s, Nigeria began to experience the growth of cinemas, which was initially structured for the middle and upper class. The Silverbird Group is the first company to launch a series of modern Cinema houses across major cities in Nigeria, mostly situated in affluent areas and districts. It launched its cinema chains in 2004, starting with

6392-649: The most widely spoken African language outside of the continent. There is a substantial body of literature in the Yoruba language, including books, newspapers, and pamphlets. Yoruba is used in radio and television broadcasting and is taught at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. The Yoruba dialect continuum consists of several dialects. The various Yoruba dialects in Yorubaland can be classified into five major dialect areas: Northwest, Northeast, Central, Southwest, and Southeast. Clear boundaries cannot be drawn, but peripheral areas of dialectal regions often have some similarities to adjoining dialects. North-West Yoruba

6486-401: The number of vowels they have; see above . Nasal vowels are by default written as a vowel letter followed by ⟨n⟩ , thus: ⟨in⟩ , ⟨un⟩ , ⟨ẹn⟩ , ⟨ọn⟩ , ⟨an⟩ . These do not occur word-initially. In the standard language, /ɛ̃/ occurs only in the single word ìyẹn ~ yẹn 'that'. The status of the vowel [ã]

6580-507: The official orthography of Standard Yoruba. However, they exist in several Yoruba dialects. The pronunciation of the letters without diacritics corresponds more or less to their International Phonetic Alphabet equivalents, except for the labial–velar consonant [k͡p] (written ⟨p⟩ ) and [ɡ͡b] (written ⟨gb⟩ ), in which both consonants are pronounced simultaneously rather than sequentially. The diacritic underneath vowels indicates an open vowel , pronounced with

6674-563: The older orthography, it employs the Latin alphabet modified by the use of the digraph ⟨gb⟩ and certain diacritics , including the underdots under the letters ⟨ẹ⟩ , ⟨ọ⟩ , and ⟨ṣ⟩ . Previously, the vertical line had been used to avoid the mark being fully covered by an underline , as in ⟨e̩⟩, ⟨o̩⟩, ⟨s̩⟩; however, that usage is no longer common. The Latin letters ⟨c⟩ , ⟨q⟩ , ⟨v⟩ , ⟨x⟩ , ⟨z⟩ are not used as part of

6768-461: The oldest extant Yoruba Ajami exemplar is a 19th-century Islamic verse (waka) by Badamasi Agbaji (d. 1895- Hunwick 1995). There are several items of Yoruba Ajami in poetry, personal notes, and esoteric knowledge (Cf. Bang 2019). Nevertheless, Yoruba Ajami remained idiosyncratic and not socially diffused, as no standardized orthography existed. The plethora of dialects and the absence of a central promotional institution, among others, are responsible. In

6862-548: The overt melodrama which constituted the video era; more practical; more logical and generally better stories. Themes explored in these films are often characterized by consciously cosmopolitan themes, as most of the filmmakers are relatively young. The Figurine , for example has a narrative which contains supernatural themes similar to the average video film; it is however concluded with an inconclusive logical twist which has been subjected to analytical debates. A proper copyright and distribution system still remained one of

6956-494: The place beyond just watching films, but more of a social activity and a modified sort of entertainment beyond film watching. This trend has given another probable explanation as to the demise of the Nigerian cinema culture in the 1980s, which might have been as a result of the unfashionable appearance of most cinemas of the Golden era. Silverbird cinemas upon establishment started screening Nigerian films with high production quality, as

7050-435: The primary beneficiaries. Adelabu , a Ph D graduate from Damascus cited—among many other common usages—the following words to be Yoruba's derivatives of Arabic vocabularies: Some common Arabic words used in Yoruba are names of the days such as Atalata ( الثلاثاء ) for Tuesday, Alaruba ( الأربعاء ) for Wednesday, Alamisi ( الخميس ) for Thursday, and Jimoh ( الجمعة , Jumu'ah ) for Friday. By far, Ọjọ́ Jimoh

7144-434: The production processes of optical discs ' manufacturers and plants as well as over the importation and exportation of the finished film products. All these measures have however been of little impact, as unauthorized copying remained prevalent, and NCC itself have been accused of aiding the practice. Still in the bid to fight infringement, Audio-Visual Rights Society (AVRS) was established, headed by Mahmood Ali-Balogun . AVRS

7238-844: The relationship between literature and drama, he adopted literary adaptations as a working model for his filmmaking. Not only does he love the books, he loves the authors too as he's always found hanging among them. His favourite writers include Kola Akinlade, Pa Amos Tutuola , Cyprian Ekwensi , Akinwunmi Ishola , Adebayo Faleti , Wale Ogunyemi and Wole Soyinka . Some of his most successful films are literary adaptations and they include: Koseegbe , Oleku , Thunderbolt (Magun), The White Handkerchief , The Narrow Path , Maami and recently Dazzling Mirage . He has decided to maintain this model for his future films. In 1991, Tunde Kelani started his own production company, Mainframe Films and Television Productions – Opomulero, so he could produce films and not just lend technical support. Having emerged from

7332-748: The spatial relational terms are historically related to body-part terms. Yoruba uses a vigesimal (base-20) numbering system. The wide adoption of imported religions and civilizations such as Islam and Christianity has had an impact both on written and spoken Yoruba. In his Arabic-English Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Quran and Sunnah , Yoruba Muslim scholar Abu-Abdullah Adelabu argued Islam has enriched African languages by providing them with technical and cultural augmentations with Swahili and Somali in East Africa and Turanci Hausa and Wolof in West Africa being

7426-517: The standard devised there was the basis for the orthography of the steady flow of religious and educational literature over the next seventy years. The current orthography of Yoruba derives from a 1966 report of the Yoruba Orthography Committee, along with Ayọ Bamgboṣe's 1965 Yoruba Orthography , a study of the earlier orthographies and an attempt to bring Yoruba orthography in line with actual speech as much as possible. Still similar to

7520-599: The third most valuable film industry in the world, behind the United States and India . It contributed about 1.4% to Nigeria's economy; this was attributed to the increase in the number of quality films produced and more formal distribution methods. Actor Wale Ojo , one of the pioneers and a strong supporter of the New Nigerian Cinema movement describes the movement as "an elevation of Nigerian film -- high production values, good strong narratives, stories that capture

7614-424: The underdots, three further diacritics are used on vowels and syllabic nasal consonants to indicate the language's tones: an acute accent ⟨ ´ ⟩ for the high tone, a grave accent ⟨ ` ⟩ for the low tone, and an optional macron ⟨ ¯ ⟩ for the middle tone. These are used in addition to the underdots in ⟨ẹ⟩ and ⟨ọ⟩ . When more than one tone

7708-426: The use of Standard Yoruba did not result from some deliberate linguistic policy, much controversy exists as to what constitutes 'genuine Yoruba', with some writers holding the opinion that the Ọyọ dialect is the "pure" form, and others stating that there is no such thing as genuine Yoruba at all. Standard Yoruba, the variety learned at school and used in the media, has nonetheless been a decisive consolidating factor in

7802-401: The use of these diacritics can affect the retrieval of Yoruba documents by popular search engines. Therefore, their omission can have a significant impact on online research. When a word precedes another word beginning with a vowel, assimilation, or deletion (' elision ') of one of the vowels often takes place. Since syllables in Yoruba normally end in a vowel, and most nouns start with one, it

7896-456: The video film era where many filmmakers were left to the mercy of "industry sharks and pirates" that profited from their creativity, details of sales and box office returns were now better kept, thereby creating a sort of investor-confidence in the now relatively formal film sector. Not too long after the New Nigerian Cinema movement was embraced, the malaise of copyright violation quickly caught up with movies made in this era as well. Initially,

7990-533: The way of targeting foreign developed markets, by featuring foreign cast members – examples: Black November (2012) by Jeta Amata, Doctor Bello (2013) by Tony Abulu and Half of a Yellow Sun (2013) by Biyi Bandele ; this strategy, which initially seemed like the "easy way out" has however been deemed unsustainable, and most of the films in fact were not able to break even in the targeted markets. In recent times, there have also been talks on establishing low cost and open air cinemas in neighbourhoods, like there

8084-516: The world of theatre and literature, adaptations of books and plays for cinema are the core of Kelani's filmmaking practice and through them he celebrates writers and their work to what he sees as a public that reads less and less. At Mainframe, he has produced movies such as Ti Oluwa Nile , Ayo Ni Mo Fe , Koseegbe , Oleku , Thunderbolt (Magun) , Saworoide , Agogo Eewo , The Campus Queen , Abeni , Narrow Path , Arugba and Maami . His latest work, Dazzling Mirage , an adaptation from

8178-453: Was a critical and commercial success in Nigeria, and it was also screened in international film festivals. The 2010 film Ijé by Chineze Anyaene, overtook The Figurine to become the highest grossing Nigerian film ; a record it held for four years, until it was overtaken in 2014 by Half of a Yellow Sun (2013). Other popular films released in the early years of this revolution include: The Amazing Grace (2006) by Jeta Amata , Through

8272-529: Was actively investing money and taking to time to learn photography. So, inevitably, he became an apprentice photographer after he finished secondary school. Later, he trained at the then Western Nigeria Television (WNTV) and went on to attend the London Film School . In the 1970s, Kelani worked as a BBC TV and Reuters correspondent, and in Nigerian TV . For Reuters he travelled to Ethiopia to cover

8366-580: Was historically spoken in the Ọyọ Empire . In NWY dialects, Proto-Yoruba velar fricative /ɣ/ and labialized voiced velar /gʷ/ have merged into /w/; the upper vowels /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ were raised and merged with /i/ and /u/, just as their nasal counterparts, resulting in a vowel system with seven oral and three nasal vowels. South-East Yoruba was most likely associated with the expansion of the Benin Empire after c.  1450 . In contrast to NWY, lineage, and descent are largely multilineal and cognatic , and

8460-486: Was in the 1970s; none has however materialized as of 2015. From early years of the New Wave till present day, DVD is considered a "no go" area, due to the prevalent copyright infringement in the country. In no time, "New Nollywood" became synonymous with delayed DVD release, generally taking up to three or four years before release. This is generally because filmmakers intend to maximize profit before releasing on DVD, which

8554-540: Was introduced to Yoruba literature from an early stage in his life and was also greatly influenced by theatre, as the Yorubas had a very strong travelling theatre tradition at that time. When he was in secondary school, he had the privilege to see most of the great Yoruba theatre classics, including The Palm-Wine Drinkard , Oba Koso , Kurunmi , Ogunde plays and more. He became interested in photography from primary school days, and throughout his secondary-school education, he

8648-644: Was possible, and concerns over the safety of film copies being sent to cinema houses for screening. The cause of copyright violation has been attributed to various factors, which include: poor content management by distributors, who fail to implement the available "anti-piracy strategies and tools", and also laxity from the government. National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) had put in place several policies to curb infringement, many of which had little or no impact. Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) also became active in pursuing infringers, instituting projects such as "Strategic Action Against Piracy (STRAP)". However, it

8742-514: Was reported that the bootleggers, who are mostly located in Alaba market , a very congested and disorganized area, have often resisted arrest by law enforcement officials, whom they usually engage in fierce battles by employing all manners of dangerous weapons. The NCC also began the implementation of a new "Copyright Optical Discs Plants Regulations", which gives the NCC administrative and enforcement powers over

8836-528: Was sent to Abeokuta , to live with his grandparents. The rich Yoruba culture and tradition he experienced in his early years, coupled with the experience he garnered at the London Film School where he studied the art of filmmaking , prepared him for what he is doing today. Tunde Kelani was born in Lagos but, at the age of five, he was sent to live with his grandparents at Abeokuta in Ogun State . He attended

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