Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria
We only see the Big Picture.
Nigeria’s cinema sector is perhaps, the most evolving in the nation’s creative industry, as movie-going has become a norm amongst many working-class youths and millennials in the recent past. In metropolitan cities such as Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, the usual #TGIF aura on Fridays is commonly dominated by scenarios of young corporate workers, couples and students, storming cinemas as soon as the clock ticks to call it a day.
Even with the return of the cinema culture to Lagos in 2004, the largest local government in our centre of excellence boasts of only one cinema located at Igando.
There were no cinemas on the mainland in Lagos 10 years ago, now all that has changed.
Presently cinemas are located on both sides of the Atlantic.
Nigeria, with a huge population and multi-ethnic groupings ought to be a veritable market for the motion picture industry to flourish.
But while countries with similar population and multifarious cultural groupings are using the cinema to project their image to the world, tell their stories, showcase their culture, create employment opportunities and also rake in huge revenue, the Nigerian cinema is in a mishmash, with some stakeholders lamenting the decay in the industry, while government handles issues concerning the cinema with levity.
At a time when the Moral and ethical standards of our society are being heavily influenced by entertainment, and we see the Church struggling to be part of the conversation among young people, Heart In Motion (HIM) studios brings an inspirational movie which looks at family and faith through the lens of an unconventional encounter with God in this modern age.