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The thespian was a panellist at the 2024 AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum/Afreximbank Annual Meetings, where she shared her dreams for Nollywood.
“I could have gone to Hollywood a long time if I wanted to. But I had a dream to build an industry in Nigeria that could rival it. That’s because I’ve always believed in that,”the Lion Heart actor revealed.
“I have always believed that we were capable of actually owning an industry like that that told our story for our people. I wanted that. I respect what Hollywood is doing. I respect what Bollywood is doing, and I felt like Nollywood had an equal chance at it.”
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Genevieve also said that she felt like a commodity in Hollywood after the success of her 2018 hit film Lion Heart, which rumours say was purchased for $3.5 million by Netflix.
“For the first time, I realised I was a commodity. I thought, you know, given what I had done with Lionheart and all of that, I was going to have an opportunity to do more… That was not quite the case,”she said.
“They wanted what I had, but for their benefit. It was all about their story. It was all about how, even if it was our story, I could make it more authentic to their own understanding of whatever Africa is because they did have a lot of literature in their archives.”
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Genevieve Nnaji is one of the biggest actors in the African entertainment industry. She is a recipient of multiple awards, such as the Africa Movie Academy Awards, the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Award, and more.
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