On Monday, August 21, 2023, the Nigerian film industry took another giant stride as the Chinese Consulate in Lagos established a China Film Festival and it took off on that day.
Opening the event was the Consul-General of the Lagos Chinese Consulate, Yan Yuging, who expounded on the bonding qualities of film, especially with a traditional society like Nigeria.
She was impressed on how this holds similar for the Chinese culture, hence, the reason for the culmination of this event.
In her address, she presented the steady income the Nigerian film industry is raking in (which presently stands at approximately $6.4 billion) and compared to China’s which is estimated to hit a whopping sum of $13.7 billion dollars by 2027.
She believes that this kind of trajectory Nigeria is on is the right one and is only right to form an alliance with an economy with which it bears similar backgrounds.
Buttressing her point was Director-General of the National Council for Arts and Culture, Otunba Runsewe.
“I do remember with nostalgia in the ’70s, we used to have the Chinese films; Bruce Lee, Chang Lee, and the rest of them, you know the kung fu fighting and everything, and Nigerians keyed into it.
But today, we can see where we are. The Chinese are becoming our greatest ally because what the Chinese represent in Asia, is what Nigeria represents in Africa. So, bringing these two economies together, it would be a unique brand of developing the world.”
To celebrate this auspicious dalliance of two indigenous cultures, there was a joint performance by the China National Traditional Orchestra and Huaxing Arts Troupe Nigeria.
The Huaxing Arts Troupe Nigeria is a disseminator of Chinese culture, promoting the relationship between Nigeria and China.
At the event, which took place in Lagos on Monday, the Arts Troupe performed three major Nigerian traditional dances on stage for the first time.
Presently, bilateral trade between Nigeria and China has grown from approximately $300 million in the 1990s to over $20 billion in recent years.
What does this partnership mean for filmmakers from Nigeria and China? Xplorenollywood will continue following up on this and sharing updates as they come.
