Aug 13: Nollywood and Tollywood and other places

You've heard of Hollywood, and Bollywood, and now a third country takes the stage (or screen) in the shape of Nigeria's 'Nollywood', and there's also Tollywood.

There are more of these than you think...

This article lists 27 locations for film industries, many of which you will not have heard of.

This has been featured in a few current newspaper articles, such as The Guardian one here.

Many of the films are made in local languages, and are therefore important culturally.

Cinema is an essential part of global culture, and there is a long tradition of geography teachers using films in their teaching, sometimes to teach about particular concepts, or natural hazards.

My son has a copy of several DVDs which are in Telugu, and there are also others he streams in the language.

One of the more interesting of the 'woods' is Wakaliwood, set in Nigeria - source of the classic film 'Who killed Captain Alex'.

Films I watched today:

Target Earth (1954) dir. Sherman A Rose

Alien invasion movie, with people waking up in a deserted city and trying to escape from robot invaders from Venus while scientists work out a way to defeat them. 

The Sea shall not claim them (1956) dir. Lewis Gilbert

Wartime film featuring a strong cast about a team trying to rescue the crew of a downed plane carrying vital secret document. 

Grease (1978) dir. Randal Kleiser

Showing as a tribute to Olivia Newton-John.