Despite making a huge fortune from Nollywood as a filmmaker, Mo Abudu has expressed hate for the term “Nollywood” and asked for it to be replaced with another word or description for the Nigerian film industry.
The high-profile Nigerian filmmaker made her points known during a Deadline interview alongside Hollywood actor and filmmaker Idris Elba, who is British-Sierra Leonean. Abudu blamed the history of the term as the reason for her dislike.
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She noted that the term “Nollywood” was coined by a Canadian journalist who visited Nigeria at a time when movies were not properly made.
Mo Abudu quizzed:
“Do you know the history behind the word? A Canadian journalist came to Nigeria and decided that he was going to give us the name Nollywood, and that was it. It’s stuck since then.”
Continuing, the filmmaker said, “I hate the word Nollywood. The term Nollywood itself is a bad genre of filmmaking. We all know what Nollywood is supposed to represent — it’s the VHS films that were made back in the day.”
Mo Abudu further suggested a new term for the industry:
