‘Black Market’ Changes Nollywood Film Premiere Landscape

 Ferdinand Ekechukwu

The journey to making the screening of ‘Black Market’ a Guinness world Record feat had been part of the film project plan. The idea was to create an experience that would go beyond a traditional film premiere, and make a broader cultural statement that resonates with the project and beyond.

 “Right from when we were writing, way before casting or going on set, we knew this was exactly what we wanted to do. We had even locked down TBS before we went into principal photography,’ actress Omowuni Dada, who also serves as an executive producer on the project, had revealed in a chat.

Reflecting on the film journey, Dada explains further. “We thought, as filmmakers, the best way to put Nigeria on the global map would be through our craft, and that was why we decided to do this, to go for a Guinness World Record attempt with our film.”

She said, “We just thought, instead of the regular ‘take your film to the cinema’, let’s do something more iconic with it, something that goes beyond Nollywood, something that is a cultural statement, not just for Lagos, not just for Nigerian creatives, but for young people and Nigerians as a whole.’

For years, Nollywood premieres have been more conventional, with a simple familiar script that sees arrival of guests, cameras work the red carpet, the cast poses for pictures, the audience watches the film, and everyone goes home. And the rest continues on social media.

Crime thriller, ‘Black Market’ changed the scale of that formula on September 26, drawing an official certified Guinness World Record of over 51,000 viewers in attendance at Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), Lagos. The earlier record of 43,624 attendees was held by Filipino film Felix Manalo at the Philippine Arena in 2015.

Directed by Fatimah Binta Gimsay and produced by Nora Awolowo, ‘Black Market’ stars Omowunmi Dada, Lateef Adedimeji, Linda Ejiofor-Suleiman, Scarlet Gomez, Teniola Aladese, Susan Pwajok, Ibrahim Yekini, popularly known as Itele D Icon, and Uzor Arukwe, among others.

It follows five market women involved in a cross-border smuggling operation amid fuel scarcity and economic pressure. The plot takes a dramatic turn after the daughter of one of the women is kidnapped. The event was supported by the Lagos State Government through the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, alongside several corporate partners.