Nigerian actress and singer, Stella Damasus, in a YouTube post on Sunday, slammed Ghanaian Producer, Leila Djansi, for describing Nollywood as Adolf Hitler.
Leila, while speaking to Jimmy Jean-Louis in his documentary, Jimmy Goes to Nollywood, had said that the new crop of filmmakers in Nigeria should be referred to as ‘independent’ rather than ‘Nollywood’.
“I don’t think those people, this new crop of filmmakers should be put under the umbrella of Nollywood, they should be called independent film because a name carries a lot, if you start tagging it Nollywood, it carries every negative connotation that comes with Nollywood, it’s like calling your son Hitler.”
Leila’s reference to the Nazi dictator, the central figure in World War II and the Holocaust, did not sit well with Stella Damasus who told the filmmaker in a video post to get her facts right.
“That is the most derogatory thing anyone can ever say about the Nigerian movie industry,” Stella said.
She went on to point out that the reason Africans embraced and understood Djansi’s 2011 film, Ties that Bind, was because she used “one of our best – Omotola Jalade Ekeinde.”
Stella went on to say Leila Djansi, by her statement, has insulted the likes of Kenneth Nnebue, Tade Ogidan, Kingsley Ogoro, Segun Arinze, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Genevieve Nnaji, Funke Akindele and many others who have toiled to take Nollywood to greater heights.
She also added that even though most of these Nollywood actors and filmmakers did not have the opportunity Leila had to study filmmaking abroad, they have still managed to put Nollywood on the map.
Stella, you have me.