Why Yoruba films outshine Igbo movies in cinemas, streaming platforms — Actor Francis Duru

Nollywood actor Francis Duru has said Yoruba filmmakers have overtaken their Igbo counterparts in cinema releases and on streaming platforms because they organised themselves early and protected their cultural stories, while Igbo producers failed to do the same.

Duru spoke on Gbam, a programme aired on the Yan Content Factory YouTube channel on Friday, where he was asked why Yoruba producers now dominate major cinema release windows and platforms like Netflix.

“When they say charity begins at home, that’s what has happened to the Yorubas. We need to learn from them. If you don’t protect your own, if you don’t project your own, you know, who will do it?” Duru said.

He said Igbo filmmakers should not resent their Yoruba peers for the imbalance, but should instead examine their own missed opportunities.

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“The Yorubas created an opportunity for themselves and utilised it very well for themselves. So why were you not learning? Why didn’t you see it? Because of that same concept: you think you are the big man, but you forget that there will come a time when you need to be expansive, proactive and ask yourself, ‘There is a new market space. Why am I not there?’

“They (Yorubas) perfected themselves. Got together, called their people who were able to spend money and all that stuff. So the Yoruba-centric nature protected their own. Don’t get angry with them. These are people who saw their own and protected their own. What happened to you?”

The actor also decried the near-absence of Igbo heritage stories on Netflix, contrasting it with what he described as a deliberate Yoruba effort to safeguard their own narratives.

“We created an industry. It’s so shameful. Go to Netflix today; you hardly see one Igbo film that speaks of the Igbo heritage. It’s annoying.”

On the underuse of notable Igbo historical figures and literary works, Duru noted that storytellers from other regions have stepped in to fill that gap.

“We have how many great men in Nigeria? When was the last time you saw the epic of one of these great men?” Duru asked. ” We have great writers who are even writing for the Yorubas. We see the Yorubas crossing over to write Igbo stories, like Ahamefuna, and made a mess of who we are.”

Tracing the roots of the setback, Duru said many early Igbo pioneers in the industry approached filmmaking as traders rather than as artists building something lasting, prioritising quick profit over structure and professionalism.

“They were just merchandising. Not passion. They just wanted to make money,” he stated. “They were busy about the power, authority and money they were making to the point that they didn’t know that they were losing it… That’s why they left; that’s why they lost out. Where they now? Those names don’t make any sense.”

Turning to why older Nollywood films still evoke nostalgia, Duru attributed it to the discipline and thoroughness that went into productions at the time, unlike what he called the rushed approach common today.

“That hallmark of nostalgia is because it was content, passion, and people sat down and thought through every moment, even from audition to rehearsal to casting. It was very procedural,” he said. “But today it is all step and jump, today script, tomorrow go and sell. There’s an influx of so many people, ‘everybody can do it.’ People no longer respect the ethics and principles that guide everything you do in life.”

“We don’t have an idea of the necessary principles that built our success; once you cannot define it, then you’re progressing in error, and you cannot pass that knowledge to another person,” he added.

Duru, however, said he does not see the growth of newer content forms as a threat to Nollywood, describing it instead as a sign of the industry expanding, while calling on its veteran figures to set the standard going forward.

“Everything is adding up, and we’re getting better and bigger, so it is expanding the frontiers of the industry,” he concluded. “But those who created the platform of the industry should work hard to actually push towards the ethics and be exemplary to set a new standard so people can know the way to go.”