Veteran Nigerian actress Genevieve Nnaji has advocated for more collaboration among African filmmakers across the continent
The 47-year-old actress made her stance known while speaking in a recent interview on Deadline Podcast.
Speaking on the programme, the mother of one expressed her long-held desire for more global projects across the African continent and her eagerness to see it come to be.
She said, “I think my dream has always been that we have some intercontinental production within the African region. And I can’t wait to see that happen.
Nnaji, who produced and directed Lion Heart, the first Nigerian movie on Netflix, affirmed the increasing number of female directors, producers and filmmakers in the Nigerian movie industry.
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She stated that although the Nigerian business was only around 40 years old, it had made significant strides in a short amount of time and still had a lot of room to grow.
“Seeing a lot more female producers, directors, and filmmakers come up is also very inspiring to me. The industry is barely 40 years old, but we’ve achieved so much in such a short time”, she said.
The seasoned actress said she was excited to see how the industry will develop and voiced confidence about the future of filmmaking in Africa.
During the 79th Cannes Film Festival, Nnaji received recognition at the Women in Cinema event organized by the Red Sea Film Foundation.
She emphasized that there was still more to be done and that the sector was still in its infancy.
“I think we just started. I think, you know, time is still very young, and we have a lot more to achieve.”
Celebrated for her role in expanding Nollywood’s global reach, Nnaji highlighted the richness of Nigerian and African narratives.
She said she hoped those stories would receive wider international recognition and allow audiences to better understand the depth of Nigeria, its culture, and Africa as a whole.
“The stories that come out of Nigeria, I can’t wait for people to actually see the depth of who we are as a nation, as a culture, as a continent, Africa as a whole”, she added.
After a long absence from acting, the Nollywood veteran is set to return to the screen in Wahala, a six-part thriller series produced by BBC Studios and based on the novel by Theresa Ikoko.
