Friday 16 September 2016

David Oyelowo on why he will soon be making Nollywood films

David Oyetokunbo Oyelowo is a British Nigerian actor and producer. His most famous films include: The Last King of Scotland, The Butler and Selma.

He is a two-time Golden Globe-nominated British star, who spent part of his childhood in Nigeria. He is recently among the flock of movie stars attending the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in Canada.

He was asked in an interview about how he feels about the Nollywood industry. He said: “Nollywood, it oscillates between being the second- and third-biggest film industry in the world.”

“I can tell by the profile that they are gaining that it’s not going to be long before I — to be perfectly frank, as someone who has established their career in Western film making — am going to be desirous to go back and make a film that would be deemed a Nollywood movie.”


David Oyelowo in the film A United Kingdom which is featured at TIFF

He added that for him, excellence was key and he would love to work with the best filmmakers wherever or whoever they are.

“And of course there’s going to be a very particular desire to do that if that is happening in Nigeria,” he said. “Living there myself, being of Nigerian parentage, we love a good story, we love a good yarn. It’s very much embedded in the culture and that’s why we have this prolific production of movies. I believe it won’t be long before movies coming out of Nigeria are going to be at a world-class level.”


David Oyelowo as Robert Katende in Queen of Katwe which is featured at TIFF

David stars in two films being featured at the festival: the Ugandan chess-champion drama titled Queen of Katwe and the interracial couple story, A United Kingdom.


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