With the ascendancy of a new helmsman at the Nigeria Film
Corporation (NFC), the clamour for the Motion Picture Practitioners Council of
Nigeria (MOPPICON) has been renewed by job seekers and movie politicians once
again.
Like the biblical children of Israel who pestered God,
that they wanted a king like other nations, till He succumbed, I am afraid this
too may come to pass.
The argument has been that MOPPICON has become an
all-comers affair hence it needs to be regulated. The belief has been there are
a lot of charlatans in it. Since other professions like advertising, in recent
times, have a practitioners’ council why not the motion picture industry?
In these days of Orosanye’s report on how to streamline
government agencies, I wonder what this will all translate to.
My argument is that you cannot regulate creativity. It is
a product of unusual thinking by unusual people. If the music industry was to
be regulated today, all the Wizkids of this world who have no formal schooling
in music would never have a chance. Imagine how boring radio and TV would be.
Even most musicians abroad would not have a chance. There would never have been
a Nollywood today if it were left only to film school graduates and theatre
arts graduates (who make the loudest noise about being professionals and
consider others charlatans).
Do not get me wrong, I believe in film training and in
fact own the oldest and one of the most credible film training institutions in
Nigeria, but I also recognise that with a Nigerian Film Corporation, the
National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) and the National Broadcasting
Commission, any other body to regulate the Motion Picture industry is just a
waste of time.
There are better things to worry about, setting up a
viable Film Fund pool for practitioners to draw from, for instance. Reducing
tariffs on film equipment to lower cost of production, building more cinema
houses to help distribution and signing co-production treaties with other
countries amongst others.
I think the guilds should be strengthened and regulated
by the NFC and the guild heads can constitute a body that meets with government
and the film corporation to discuss industry problems from time to time.
The words ‘motion picture practitioners’ is so wide it
captures everything in moving pictures and this includes our young and
incredibly talented music video producers who produce far higher quality work
than those in Nollywood and who are presently quietly minding their business.
Do we want to emasculate these young talents? Many of them learnt film from the
Internet and from watching films and musical videos on TV. There is no way of
knowing what they are capable of if a bunch of old school film makers have to
decide whether or not they qualify as film makers.
No one regulates writers, no one regulates painters, no
one regulates music, no one regulates dancers, no one should therefore regulate
film making. It is an art form and if people do not like what you do you will
soon find something else to do. Simple as that!
I expect my colleagues who are angling for seats on the
council to throw stones at me for this but I think the government and Nigerian
people deserve to know the truth. We do not need a body like the lawyers to
decide who gets a SAN and who does not. Let the jobs speak. Let the public
decide who a film maker is not, a bunch of out of job rent seekers.
Let the missiles roll. Let the debate begin....
By: Victor
Okhai
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