Tribalism taking over Nollywood, Joseph Benjamin claims

Joseph Benjamin, the actor, has claimed some Nigerian filmmakers use indigenous movies to promote tribal superiority.

In a post via his X page, the 47-year-old addressed the rise in the production of cultural-based movies in Nollywood.

He said though Nigerian movies are “amazing”, there seemed to be a “race to showcase whose culture is best”.

Benjamin also referred to the South African movie industry, adding that they “are more focused on pushing out their country to the world rather than tribes”.

He further tackled the producers of indigenous movies, asking if they create their films with a “mindset of communalism or individualism”.

“My dear Nollywood, we are slowly pivoting towards a tribal trajectory. As I skim through, all the amazing language based titles, coming out of the industry. I cannot help, but see a subtle race, to showcase whose culture is best,” he wrote.

“As much as we desire to tell our stories ourselves. The competitive lines are becoming less blurry. When South Africans make films, they have one goal. Which is quite evident in their final work.

“The big picture is South Africa as a brand. How do we sell South Africa to the world? Not Afrikaans, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sesotho, Swazi, Setswana, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa, and Zulu.

“However, reverse is the case with us. We are all about, how do I sell the Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa culture. Well, as much as some might be of the opinion that, if they see these tribes, and the beauty of our diversity. They will be attracted to our culture at large.

“Let me ask this question to you dear filmmaker. Please look in the mirror, and honestly tell yourself the truth. When you make your language based films. Do you have a mindset of communalism? Or individualism?

“Until we start seeing this whole process as a ‘WE’ focused movement and not ‘I’, then and only then can we boldly say we are ready to scale up.”