A Daring Homage to the Igbo Apprenticeship System

There are things far from acting that bring a movie to the front door of excellent cinema: a good story, believable dialogue, the mundanity of the extras, intentional well-angled camera shots, the casting choice, editing and an endless amount of hard work put in by the many faceless people who sweat and bleed behind the scenes. These elements add the glow and final touch that any movie or TV show needs to move from decent to excellent. Anybody familiar with Nollywood can attest that for the longest time, the battle for excellent cinema in the industry has been between the elements listed above and the actual work people see in movies—the acting. From the 1990s to the 2000s, the industry had what can best be described as some of the most brilliant actors and storytellers. However, since the work they put out fell short in other departments like cinematography and video editing, it failed to reach this mark of excellence. Over a decade has passed since then, and things have significantly changed. Nothing captures this change as perfectly as big box office movies like Áfàméfùnà: An Nwa Boi Story on streaming platforms.