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There is still a long wait for another Kannywood movie to enter the world’s streaming service, especially Neflix, a situation that stakeholders in the industry say is worrying .
On December 31, 2023, history was made in the Kannywood industry, where the film ‘Mati a Zazzau’ became the first Hausa film to enter the Netflix program, which is a program that allows you to watch movies. films all over the world, and the producers of the film earn a lot of dollars, and to make it easy to watch.
‘Mati a Zazzau’ is a film by Rahama Sadau, which she designed to continue the story of Mati and Lado, which was released in February 2020.
After the first film was accepted, it was celebrated that the problem that had been plaguing the film industry for a long time was solved – that is, the lack of proper business methods of the films, where it was thought that the films would start shouldering shoulder to shoulder with its Nollywood counterpart in southern Nigeria.
However, there are still indications that there is still work ahead of the filmmakers, because after the first film, no other film has been accepted yet.
Whose fault is this problem?
Seeing how long Hausa movies have been made, and seeing how there are filmmakers who are seen fighting, some people who follow the industry see the fault of the producers and not spending money to produce movies. The quality of the international programs will be accepted.
However, the producer Abubakar Bashir Maishadda denied this statement, saying that they themselves are concerned about the software.
According to him, “The truth is that what is happening is that after the movie Mati a Zazzau entered Netflix, Rahama Sadau came to sit with us filmmakers and directors and became a mediator. Until it was agreed The producers of the film will join forces. Some of us went to Lagos and the Netflix guys talked to each other, and then we heard silence.”
He added that since this move by Rahama, no other movie has been seen on Netflix.
Maishadda denied the allegation that Kannywood movies are of poor quality, saying they have good stories and productions.
“There is a film of mine ‘One day in Kano’ that I should have taken to them, but in the end I took it to Arewa24 because I was tired of waiting and I felt silence.”
He said that they are ready to produce big films, but according to him, the problem is, “if you produce the film, where will you go?”
“You see, there is the Prime Amazon program, there is my film Aisha, with which I won the award for the best film made in the local language at the MVC 2023 film award ceremony. When I won the competition, they said they would buy it. , we talked to them and did everything, they were quiet.”
He added that they have news, they have workers, and all the tools that the southerners use, they can also use them to prepare the kind of films they make.
“Netflix still doesn’t have anything good. It’s not just one or two movies, it’s like they’re accepting the movies that are being talked about. You’ve seen the movie “The Honorable” by the producer Prince Daniel Aboki, they participated in the international film Oscar competition. with him. You see, this is an important thing to realize that we are trying from here in Kannywood.”
There has been progress, but… – Muhsin Ibrahim
Original image, FB/Muhsin Ibrahim
Dr. Muhsin Ibrahim, a teacher at the University of Cologne in Germany, said that progress has indeed been made in the production of quality Kannywood films.
He said, “if you watch the movie “Wataran in Kano” you will see that there has been a lot of progress in the production and filming of Hausa movies. But then one wonders why such movies do not get accepted in the international curriculum.”
However, Muhsin said that there is a failure of Kannywood people in not finding ways to market the movies and develop them, “especially since the market is in Lagos, it should be said that they have infiltrated now.”
Muhsin added that stakeholders in the industry need more cooperation to identify problems and find ways to deal with them.
According to Mushin, “there are movies from southern Nigeria that if you watch them on Netflix and Amazon Prime, you will see that they are no better than some of the Kannywood movies. But then you miss what is going on.”
But he said there is a need for the Netflix people in Nigeria to come and look for Hausa movies themselves.
He said that the films in the south earn money through their viewing on the programs, and the cinemas that have modern adults in the region, and he added that the cinema in the north has not received the recognition it needs, moreover to earn a lot of money.
He said that there is a need for Kannywood people to be persistent in ensuring that their films are included in video on demand programs such as Netflix and others.
