{"id":17029,"date":"2007-06-04T08:00:30","date_gmt":"2007-06-04T15:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?p=17029"},"modified":"2014-04-07T12:12:10","modified_gmt":"2014-04-07T19:12:10","slug":"out-of-africa-christian-themes-and-filmmakers-make-their-mark-in-nigeria-and-other-parts-of-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/06\/out-of-africa-christian-themes-and-filmmakers-make-their-mark-in-nigeria-and-other-parts-of-africa.html","title":{"rendered":"Out of Africa \/ Christian themes and filmmakers make their mark in Nigeria and other parts of Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>After India and the United States, can you name the country with the third-largest film industry in the world? The answer is Nigeria, where up to 1,200 low-budget straight-to-video movies are produced every year \u2014 many of which have Christian themes or are produced by churches<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite its prodigious output, no Nigerian film had been released theatrically in its native country since 1979 \u2014 but Variety<\/a><\/i> reported last week that that changed recently thanks to a film called The Amazing Grace<\/a><\/i>, which shows \u201chow British slave trader John Newton\u2019s voyage to Nigeria in 1748 led to him writing the famous hymn.\u201d The film, which stars British actor Nick Moran as Newton, was made for $400,000 \u2014 an astronomical figure by \u201cNollywood\u201d standards \u2014 and has grossed almost double what the previous box-office champ, Mr. & Mrs. Smith<\/i>, earned in Nigeria. (Newton, of course, was also played recently by Albert Finney in the similarly-named British-American co-production Amazing Grace<\/a><\/i>.)<\/p>\n

Director Jeta Amata has sold the North American rights to The Amazing Grace<\/i> to American distributor Rock City.<\/p>\n

Christian themes and filmmakers have been making their mark in other parts of Africa, too. Reuters<\/a> reported last year that locally-made gospel music videos have been a driving force in the Kenyan film industry. And last week, a film produced in Rwanda by a Youth with a Mission (YWAM) film class made an impression at the Cannes film festival<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Munyurangabo<\/a><\/i>, also known as Liberation Day<\/i>, was directed by Lee Isaac Chung, a Korean-American who went to Kigali, Rwanda with his colleagues Jenny Lund and Samuel Anderson to teach a course in filmmaking and photography. Along the way, they ended up making a movie. The Salt Lake Tribune<\/i> reports that this film \u201cis the first feature-length narrative made in Kinyarwanda, Rwanda\u2019s primary language, which Chung doesn\u2019t speak. He relied on a translator to communicate with the two street kids he cast as his stars, both of whom he found through YWAM\u2019s soccer-outreach program.\u201d<\/p>\n

The film earned a rave review from Variety<\/i> magazine when it played at Cannes last month. Critic Robert Koehler called it \u201cby several light years the finest and truest film yet on the moral and emotional repercussions of the 15-year-old genocide that wracked Rwanda \u0085. This is \u2014 flat out \u2014 the discovery of this year\u2019s Un Certain Regard<\/a> batch, and deserves loving care from arthouse distribs after a liberating and fruitful fest tour \u0085. The sheer confidence and artistic will that 28-year-old Chung exercises here can\u2019t be overstated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Almond Tree Films<\/a>, the production company run by Chung and his colleagues, plans to return to Kigali to stimulate Rwandan filmmaking \u2014 and Lund says they plan to donate any proceeds from their film to YWAM and other organizations \u201cfor scholarships and development.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other movie news:<\/i><\/p>\n

Evan Almighty studio reaches out to religious audience<\/a><\/b> (New York Times<\/i>)
\nUniversal has also marketed the film to Latino and youth audiences<\/p>\n

Aronofsky\u2019s script for Noah\u2019s Ark<\/i> is \u201cpretty much done\u201d<\/a><\/b> (Empire Online)
\nSays it\u2019s \u201cnot a comedy \u0085 . This is definitely more the sci-fi version.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dark Knight to shoot four scenes in IMAX format<\/a><\/b> (USA Today<\/i>)
\nSequel to Batman Begins<\/i> promises Joker \u201cthe grandest entrance possible\u201d<\/p>\n

$130 million epic Nefertiti<\/i> to start filming in Egyptian studio<\/a><\/b> (Variety<\/i>)
\nAbout \u201clove affair\u201d between Queen and Moses, based on Ahmed Osman<\/a> book<\/p>\n

German group puts up money for animated Jesus film<\/a><\/b> (Variety<\/i>)
\nTo tell the story from the perspective of Paul, Judas and Mary Magdalene<\/p>\n

Canada promises to crack down on movie piracy<\/a><\/b> (Toronto Globe and Mail<\/i>)
\nMove follows threats by Fox, Warner to cancel screenings and delay releases<\/p>\n

\u2014 A version of this article was first published at Christianity Today Movies.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After India and the United States, can you name the country with the third-largest film industry in the world? The answer is Nigeria, where up to 1,200 low-budget straight-to-video movies are produced every year \u2014 many of which have Christian themes or are produced by churches. Despite its prodigious output, no Nigerian film had been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[109],"tags":[2086,2089,2087,2094,2088,2082,2084,2085,2069,2090,2083],"class_list":["post-17029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianitytoday","tag-amazing-grace-2006","tag-jenny-lund","tag-jeta-amata","tag-john-newton","tag-kenya","tag-lee-isaac-chung","tag-nigeria","tag-nollywood","tag-rwanda","tag-samuel-anderson","tag-ywam"],"yoast_head":"\nOut of Africa \/ Christian themes and filmmakers make their mark in Nigeria and other parts of Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After India and the United States, can you name the country with the third-largest film industry in the world? 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