Mo Abudu explains her hate for the term ‘Nollywood’, wants name change for movie industry

Popular Nigerian moviemaker Mo Abudu has explained why she hates the term ‘Nollywood’ which the local movie industry is generally known as by many.

Mo Abudu who shared her dislike for the regularly used term Nollywood during a Deadline interview alongside African-American Hollywood star, Idris Elba, says she’s not comfortable with the history of the word especially its current era.

She said that a Canadian journalist came to Nigeria and decided to pin the name Nollywood which represents a time when movies were not properly made.

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Mo Abudu said; “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.

“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.

“So, to still be called Nollywood, for me, is a no. We need to use terms like African filmmakers or Nigerian filmmakers,” she added.

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