Alongside with other initiatives, excerpts of interviews that follow here focus on the penetration of Nollywood films in France after seven years of the “Nigerian Cultural week” in Paris; but it is helpful to highlight some of the significant claims that have been made in the reception of films in Nigerian languages in France. In the two interviews, it remains clear that the motivation behind the individual and business initiatives is based on their “Bread and Butter”, but the points raised in the extracts remain significant in understanding how more than 6 million people watch Nigerian films in France.
François Thiellet, Founder and President of Thema, and Clémentine Tugendhat, Director of content for Thema were the first to create a cable television for Nigerian films called “Nollywood Tv” which started in October 2012. At this time, Thema acquired 750 hours of Nigerian films from Africa Magic based in South Africa. This is how they summarized their initiatives in one of the interviews accorded to Nollywood Croissance Magazine (created by Cyprian Josson in 2013), as follows: “François Thiellet: I am a great admirer of Nigerian films, and it is regrettable that the distribution of these films is hampered by language barrier in Francophone territories. By creating Nollywood TV, the role of THEMA is particularly to be a bridge between Africa and its Diaspora. Our approach is to be part of the cultural dialogue, and we make it as a point of duty to support the distribution of African audiovisual works”.
