Hilda Dokubo Speaks Her Mind About Social Media Actors
"I’m not against casting people from social media but..."
Veteran actors in Nigeria are getting rarer because of age, health, and a number of other issues. It seems like every other time we are hearing news about some kind of tragedy or bad happening to our favorite older actors. So, the ones that are still around, we treasure and we listen when they speak because they offer a perspective that is getting rarer and rarer to find by the day.
One such veteran actor that has been around since the early days of Nollywood is actress, Hilda Dokubo. Hilda is now a household name and during a new interview with This Day, she was asked her thoughts on what she would be willing to see change in the Nigerian movie industry. Hilda Dokubo answered honestly and here's what she said.
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"Is there anything you would like to point out that is lacking and how would you love to see it addressed?"
Hilda Dokubo: When we started Nollywood, we didn’t know it was going to get this big. But we all believed in our talents in our skills and in our trainings. And we saw the opportunity that was there. And we went into it. Luckily, I’m a pioneer. We told African stories which are stories that you and I can relate to as our stories. Now we have historic stories that are ours to tell. That if we don’t tell the world will listen to those stories and try to bend them because we have seen history overtime people want to rewrite history. And some of us, we need to always hold them back to the truth. There are people who came into this industry after ten years of its takeoff…who were already in entertainment; some of them were in the TV stations, or in soaps but they didn’t believe in Nollywood so they stayed away. It took ten years to convince themselves that they can come in and today people call them the “Masters of Nollywood” and we laugh because what they know is from the point they entered. So, the stories we are losing out first on telling our original African stories. il
We are losing out in telling the proper history of Nollywood. We are getting those told in bits and pieces. We are leaving out important names. It’s funny how Africans, not just Nollywood, never know how to celebrate people when they are alive. So, I’m looking forward to us being able to tell African stories the African way and using the right equipment. I’m also looking forward to some of those things being corrected. And some of the award giving bodies doing better than just saying this is viewers’ choice. Award people award for excellence because they are excellent at what they do. It’s also like I’m not against people casting people from social media but I’m against you picking up somebody from social media because the person’s algorithm is high and not training the person or even preparing the person for this character that you want the person to play. It’s an abuse on the profession. These are the few. There are a lot more.
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