Indigenous Language film makers gathered last Wednesday to
fight against what they tagged the new trend in the industry. They alleged that
StarTimes, a direct-to-home pay-tv station is dubbing thousands of Chinese
films in Yoruba and Hausa languages.
They described the development as shockin attempt by the Chinese
to institutionalize their culture at the expense of Nigeria’s.
Leading other industry veterans such as, Prince Jide Kosoko,
Alhaji Abdullahi Abdurasak, Barrister Tunji Bamisigbin, Tunji Ojetola, Yomi
Fash Lanso and a host of others at a press conference which held at LTV
Complex, Ikeja, President of the Theatre Arts and Movie Practitioners
Association of Nigeria (TAMPAN), Mr. Dele Odule, urged the Minister of
Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, and the National Assembly to wade
into the matter by stopping the move.
He said: “It gives me great pleasure, on behalf of members
of the Conference Of Indigenous Language Film Practitioners to address you on
an unfortunate situation which, if not quickly curtailed, will not only rob us
of the need to sustain and develop our culture, but also of our source of
livelihood and by extension, our desire to sustain employment for the several
cast and crew members who depend on film production for their daily bread.
“You may have observed, as you pass by some bus stops in
Lagos, a convergence of youngsters watching some Chinese or Indian films that
have been dubbed into distorted, embellished and uncouth dialogues in Yoruba
language.
“The more shocking development, gentlemen of the press, is
that, there is an attempt by the Chinese to institutionalize this trend, with
StarTimes, a direct-to-home pay-tv station now dubbing thousands of Chinese
films in Yoruba and Hausa languages.
“We hereby reject this development in its entirety, and urge
the Federal Government and our regulatory agencies to see the danger inherent
in this practice and stop the trend.
“This is totally uncalled for at this time when the Federal
Government is looking in the direction of the film industry as a viable
alternative to oil in its economic diversification policy. Thus, we are
trusting that the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who
has often expressed his passion for the film industry and his desire to turn
the motion picture sector from a creative industry to a creative economy to see
this incursion of Chinese films as a barrier to his dream for our industry.
“While we believe that the National Film and Video Censors
Board should give these types of films a priority in their occasional raid of
the film markets for uncensored and illegal movies, we also urge the Nigerian
Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to see this as an indirect way of violating the
limit of broadcast time stipulated for foreign contents.”
Odule recalled a 2015 report by leading audit firm,
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) which put the worth of Nigerian entertainment and
media industry at more than US$4 billion annually, with the prediction that by
2019, the market will be more than twice as big, with estimated total revenue
of US$8.1 billion, saying; “How do we attain this feat if foreign companies now
want to take advantage of our local market?”
The filmmakers plan to take their complaint to the National
Assembly, if need be.
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