 Welcome back. It's time for our second hot topic and we have one of Nollywood's finest and actress and producer joining us to take a look at how Nollywood helps sustain our historical and traditional values. Nigeria's Nollywood is the second largest film industry in the world with more than 2,500 movies each year and an estimated annual revenue of $6.4 billion and watched all over the continent with a growing international audience. From its early days in 1992 to date, the Nigerian film industry has had its roots in the country's rich traditions and culture. The breakfast this morning shall be discussing with Telma, Chukunyem, formerly known as Telma Mosu. She's an actress and a producer. Good morning to you. Telma. Good morning. Well first of all our hearts goes out to you and your colleagues over the demise of St. Obi. We heard that news over the weekend. Very sad story there. All right. Very sad story there. Yeah. All right. So Nollywood is fast becoming one of the country's greatest, greatest export and we're very proud of Nollywood for that. Telling the Nigerian African stories, what would you say have been some of the impact of those movies in the sustenance of our traditional values? I think Nollywood has actually gone a very long way to sustaining our culture, sustaining our traditional values. Aside from the normal contemporary movies that we make, we also have what you call epic movies or series which goes ahead to depict our culture. We have a lot of them that are running. I mean we have a telenovela called Riona that depicts the Shakiri culture and the things that happen in that time. I think in the 18th century which I actually even featured in and it's running in African magic. So and we have a lot. Mystic River is also a Netflix job depicting our culture. Still something from Nollywood showing or showcasing what our cultures are. I know that some people will say oh we have a lot of movies that maybe showcase what people could call the negative aspect, maybe rituals and so forth and so on. But the truth of the matter is this, in every society they have a way they seek solutions to whatever their challenge is maybe. For those who are in the western world, they go to church, they pray. Here in Africa we also go to church and we pray. But there are beliefs or traditions and things that had been there, even the time of our forefathers that worked for them. So and most of the times in our stories we try to depict those things. For example, maybe a child is born. I'm just trying to paint a scenario and that child dies and the woman gets pregnant again and the child dies again and you know they would need to find out what exactly is going on by their own medium of worship and things that had happened you know with their fathers. And in most cases they might find a solution and then they deal with whatever the matter is and you'll find out that the woman begins to have children that will live on. So I think in so many ways Nollywood has tried to actually depict our culture. Some people might say oh there's too much black magic, oh there's too much that. I cannot really say Africans are so much about black magic but it's one of the matters that somehow it's embedded in part of our culture. Just like you have the people in England or in Europe go to their Catholic churches you know and go to their Anglican churches or whatever the case may be. We also have things that were holding state for us before the missionaries All right well the Nigerian brand, the Nigerian brand as it were is facing a very critical challenge of you know battered image globally. Most Nigerians seem to be either well accused or imagined to be ritualist or corrupt or things like that by people abroad who may have never had any contact with a Nigerian at all but because of some of the narratives they've heard or seen maybe in the movies or any other way how is the industry responding to reported or alleged negative influences by some of your contents? Okay you know the truth of the matter is is that when you're telling a story most times you you paint a picture with a lot of intrigues to make it more interesting for the layman to sit down and watch and be captivated. I know that there have been a lot of stories being painted on ritual killings and so forth and so on you know that's going on in the society and honestly we cannot take away that certain things are happening and in Nigeria or in Africa is not the only place where we have kidnappings or where we have terrible things happen it happens in the western world so people get kidnapped you understand maybe for the rituals it might not appear very gruesome you understand but there are also people who are in the western world and who belong to certain societies or certain confraternities those things are there I'm not trying to support the way maybe the pictures are painted because in some ways it doesn't tell well about us but when you're telling a story you cut across it's not um of course these days they're trying to tone it down they might not do all the bloody bloody things you know like um horror kind of thing you understand but they try to also paint pictures that will depict what goes on in the society so that people can actually be a lot I mean we never used to have kidnappings the way it is now in our country we can't take away that there is terrorism and a lot of things that are going on and people are meant to get aware because normally a young person might just get into the vehicle get to the bus stop hop into a bus and he's on her way to school or he's on his way to wherever he's going to nobody ever knew that there will be a time when people will kidnap people or they will talk about one chance and things like that so if you do not paint that story maybe not in a very gruesome manner for people to know that be aware stay a lot and be careful because these things are happening the way it happens here I want to tell you my dear is the way it happens abroad there are kidnappings terrible things happen we all watch um foreign movies and we see um places where serious I mean there are all these um criminal cases that they show on um DSTV and some foreign stations where people are murdered in the most gruesome manners and their bodies hitting but you see maybe their people are not painting it in the way it happens but there are also programs that they have that showcase such criminal things that go on so I'm not actually all for you know painting gruesome pictures when we're telling our stories but it doesn't take away the fact that most times those things happen in reality but of course we're working on there is a need for balance so as a producer as a producer do you sometimes face the challenge to be able to balance the challenge of balancing out you know your portrayals of the good and evils in the society absolutely and I want to say that if you are watching now and what our pictures used to be 10 years back you can agree with me that there has been you know some change maybe not totally the way people are expecting it to be but it's a progressive movement you know that when you when you put pictures out there or when you put movies out there you you expect a feedback so the feedback that you get is what makes you know what to work on what to you know tone down or what to increase or what to balance but I just want to tell you that truly we're working on balancing a lot of things you know um um so that it doesn't appear like we are depicting ourselves in a terrible manner or depicting ourselves in a way that you know people would not look at us in the right way or in the right manner so um um measures are being put in place actually what are the measures what are the measures I imagine they are being put to improve the medium as a transformative means of communication measures are being put in place I will tell you that because even as people who produce movies there are certain languages that cannot be used on set because you'll be penalized even before those movies are approved by sensors board and all of that there are certain pictures that you cannot put there because you will be penalized before um um sensors but you can't even come to public space for people to watch so a lot of measures are being put in place for those kind of things to be toned down I can actually tell you that does nollywood project our values in a positive light would you say on a whole yes nollywood projects our values in very positive lights we do we tell stories that um that um depict the beautiful culture the improvement that has happened in this part of the world um the fact that Nigeria has gotten better is no longer Africa is no longer where you have monkeys jumping from tree to tree like some parts of the world used to think so nollywood has projected a lot has I mean brought Nigeria to the to the limelight it's it's a huge industry and a lot has actually happened from this part of the world showcasing Nigeria to the world that we're doing a great job I know that you know for us as Nigerians we always have very high stakes that oh they should do better oh they should do better but the truth of the matter is that from the foreign world they are amazed at what we are able to do with very limited resources working in very stringent conditions that are not really very comfortable I want you to also know that most of the of the movies in nollywood has self-sponsored we don't have um um government prostitutes that sponsor the movies I mean there are no government um um allocations that I know that in the time of president I know that in the time of president Jonathan good luck Jonathan but there was a government mild on the nollywood has it stopped has it changed with governments that took over well yes there was a support from president Jonathan no doubt he did very well and god bless his bless him but the truth of the matter is that these things are continuous for example if you put down let me say um 50 million for a certain cinema movie and you're done with that job it's a continuous process because as you keep working and selling and making profit and recovering you have to continue to reinvest in whatever you're doing and then of course the government should also support to do more so but I want to say that nollywood has painted Nigeria in a beautiful light the world at large especially the movie industry in um in in the US and wherever they actually are amazed at the amount of work that we do and what we're able to come up with working with very stringent conditions and working with very limited resources so these are just people out of passion that came together to you know do something beautiful with their craft and their skills it's um it's a process americans start today they are doing amazingly well and we are on a working um well on a journey so I'm sure that in the nearest future we'll definitely you guys will be very proud of us we'll get to that place where everybody will say oh wow you people are doing a fantastic fantastic job so I will say that is a working process what we are proud of nollywood as it is today I mean you're providing job you're bringing in revenue uh nobody considered nollywood as a general revenue generator for the country when nollywood say 1992 for instance so Nigerians are very mindful of the value that nollywood is bringing to the table however films have become a significant force in modern culture globally there are also concerns that imported cultures through foreign movies are gradually influencing nollywood so we say that again there are concerns that some foreign cultures brought in through foreign movies are gradually influencing nollywood your content how do you respond to that okay yes um you see the truth of the matter is this year yes there could be some influence but there are different genres of the theater the in as much as yes you could have an influence in so many ways maybe in um maybe the way um some of our colleagues you know everybody wants to be on point everybody wants to keep abreast everybody wants to be um to be trending everybody wants to be very very current so maybe in certain ways of us some of us doing certain things okay we are trying to be like our counterpart support but when it comes to content that is being released yes there could be a lot of improvement there could be a lot of influence if you're talking about technicals now I'm looking from that angle we are not like you know working the way we used to work with maybe not very um sophisticated equipment and all of that things have improved when talking about content also yes there could have been some form of influence from that from their own side coming to us you know getting better at jobs and getting better at telling stories and trying to paint um very um beautiful modern sophisticated civilized pictures but it doesn't tell me yeah the concerns are the negative influences that foreign movies are bringing to the society which some believe is also influencing nulliwood meaning that nulliwood is beginning to tinker with um their script to and even their portrayal of their scripts the interpretation of their scripts uh to kind of reflect what foreign movies do like foreign actors and foreign producers how they interpret their roles because before now we know that there were certain things that you wouldn't find in a Nigerian movie in a Nigerian film but today a lot of um liberty or there's some more expressions and I'm trying to control my words you tell us how much of these have happened yes but you see I want to tell you that the world is evolving and then for anybody who is a producer a filmmaker yes you're using your jobs to tell stories to impact change and all of that but you're also a business person I'm not trying to support producing wrong content sorry producing them wrong content no not at all but most times you might have to balance up and evolve and keep abreast with what the times are saying the truth of the matter is that in this country you cannot bring out any content that was not censored it will not be in the public space there are bodies controlling whatever that we are doing so before it comes out they will definitely censor it and okay it before you can put it out in the public space for people to you know consume so if you if they don't do that and you put your work out there it will be clamped down and that's money wasted so yes a lot of evolving is going on people are becoming more modern things are changing also and remember that what we give out is what people are asking let me give an example if you make a movie and you try to be very curtailed or not extravagant in your way of showing your pictures or doing stuff that you want to do and you don't have people who are watching there will be a challenge from time to time there are stories that trend so you find out what is trending and you work according to what is trending you're going to have to curtail your pictures you're going to have to curtail you know whatever it is you're putting out there but you will have to flow with the times because you have to remain in business that is the truth I know that there are some excesses of things that are done by people maybe they cut corners and things like that but when those things are found out they would definitely be clamped that's the truth we have bodies that regulate those things and then they will tell you things you cannot actually exceed or things that you cannot you know there are boundaries for lack of a better word there are boundaries where you must not exceed but you will also flow with the time so that the contents that you have will be able to sell but I also want to tell you that Nollywood is not totally influenced by our counterparts abroad like we are taking everything they are giving hookline and sinker I mean I'm yet to find there might be movies that are funny but I'm yet to find anybody acting nude and working and the camera is all over the place pursuing the person no it happens abroad but we don't do that here we haven't seen anybody going all nude you understand I haven't done any job like that and I'm trying to think in my head as I'm talking to you now to know whether there are colleagues who have produced stuff like that so there are boundaries in as much as years we're getting more modern we're improving and everything but there are still boundaries because anyhow you look at it we are Africans that's the truth so there are certain things that you know we might not be able to get away with in this part of the world good influence but we're not taking over the bad ones and when people try to exceed their limits there are actually laws to clamp down such things you know so that they do not go beyond where they are supposed to go but there are influences no doubt about that but I think we're taking the good ones and not the bad ones and we're also trying as hard as we can to keep up with our values as Africans and our traditions and to keep up with our cultures that's a good thing to wrap with Thelma Chukungwem formally Thelma Umoso a prolific actress and producer of Nollywood has joined us this morning to take a look at the impact of Nollywood on our culture you can also find her on Riona and Tinso currently running on DSTV right yes and a lot lot lot lot lot lot other movies going on on YouTube and the rest of them there are lots of jokes I must tell you before you go Thelma that I am a huge fan of yours thank you very much ma'am thank you so much for your time this morning thank you well that's the much you can take from that second hot topic we have weather update weather report for you at this point in time stay with us