Veteran Nollywood actors Kanayo O. Kanayo, Stephen Alajemba and Patience Ozokwor have weighed in on the history of Nigerian cinema, stressing that filmmaking in the country predates the 1992 home-video classic Living in Bondage.
In a post made on X, the actors made the comments during a discussion on the evolution of Nigeria’s film industry, with Kanayo and Alajemba particularly emphasising the need to distinguish between cinema films and home videos.
Ozokwor said Nigerian actors and filmmakers had been making films long before Living in Bondage, which was released in 1992.
“We are all working hard, but we started movies first. In Nigeria, we started movies... before you got to Living in Bondage,” she said.
Alajemba then pointed to Bisi, Daughter of the River, a 1977 Nigerian film directed by Jab Adu, as an example of the country's earlier cinema tradition.
“Do you know Bisi, Daughter of the River (1977)? It was one of our first movies by Ogunde... a fine movie. In fact, a film that went to the cinema,” Alajemba said.
Historical accounts confirm that Bisi, Daughter of the River was released in 1977, during an earlier era of Nigerian celluloid filmmaking. Other films from the period included works by filmmakers such as Ola Balogun, Eddy Ugbomah and Hubert Ogunde.
The discussion then turned to Living in Bondage, which the veterans said represented a different stage in the development of the Nigerian film industry.
Kanayo, who starred as Chief Omego in the 1992 film, explained that the significance of Living in Bondage was not necessarily that it was the first Nigerian film, but that it helped establish and popularise the home-video model.
“You have to be able to distinguish between films and home videos,” Kanayo said.
He explained that before the home-video era, audiences primarily watched films in cinemas, while the emergence of video technology let viewers buy copies and watch films at home.
“There was no platform for you to buy a cinema and watch in your house. The home video provided you with access, by which you bought CD copies to play in your machine in your house,” he said.
According to Kanayo, the accessibility of home videos transformed the way Nigerians consumed films and helped create the conditions for what became known as Nollywood.
Alajemba agreed, describing the development of the home-video market as the revolution that gave rise to the modern Nigerian movie industry.
Living in Bondage, directed by Chris Obi Rapu and produced by Okechukwu Ogunjiofor and Ken Nnebue, was released in 1992 and is widely regarded as the first major Nigerian home-video success. The film was shot directly for video and became a landmark in the development of the Nigerian home-video industry.
Kanayo also referenced earlier Nigerian productions and television work, while the discussion touched on veteran actors including Pete Edochie and Olu Jacobs.
When the interviewer asked about Olu Jacobs, the veterans clarified that he had also appeared in films, further underscoring their argument that Nigeria's screen industry existed long before the home-video era.
The conversation ultimately presented Living in Bondage not as the beginning of Nigerian filmmaking itself, but as a turning point in the home-video revolution that transformed film production and distribution in Nigeria.
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