How involved is the Nigerian government in LIFF?
Thank you. Before we started Nollywood, the idea was that you can’t make a film unless you have millions of dollars, but we demystified that concept and made films of low budgets which became popular. Ideally, we should have millions of dollars to organise film festivals. The budget for the Berlin Film Festival and Cannes is probably almost the budget of a small country in Africa. So, it has been very very heavy for us. It is a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. Our broadcasting licensing business, which is the cash-cow of the group is funding the festival and other businesses. We license Nollywood films all over the world to different TV stations, we are also involved in licensing for mobile phones, e.t.c. We make money from one and use it to fund the film festival which doesn’t make money. Last year alone, we spent almost N20 million and it is a small festival. Eventhough it is the biggest in Nollywood, by international standard, it is a small festival. We brought in 10 foreign guest
