Name: Kannywood: Northern Nigeria’s film industry chasing global fame
Uploaded: 2026-01-06T15:21:42.481Z
Duration: 2 min 20 s
Description: Filmmakers in the north of Nigeria are pushing the boundaries of censorship in search of international recognition.

Filmmakers in the north of Nigeria are pushing the boundaries of censorship in search of international recognition.

Niger

Kannywood, the film industry based in northern Nigeria's Kano state, is striving to gain international recognition, producing around 200 films each month. Young filmmakers are working to expand their audience beyond Nigeria, leveraging a new dedicated streaming platform and targeting the vast Hausa-speaking population across West and Central Africa and the diaspora.

Despite facing challenges such as limited resources and censorship, Kannywood is innovating with new storylines and balancing modern themes with local social conservatism. The industry's goal is for Hausa-language films to gain global appeal, similar to Indian, Chinese, Turkish, or Arabic cinema.

Kannywood: Northern Nigeria’s film industry chasing global fame

Long overshadowed by South Nigeria's Nollywood, filmmakers in the North of Africa's cinema powerhouse are pushing the boundaries of censorship in search of international recognition. The Cannywood cinema industry, named after Nigeria's northern Kano state, produces about 200 films a month. Young Cannywood creatives hope to expand their audience beyond Nigeria's borders. Cannywood is aspiring to be Nollywood by now, first, before it branches out. So why I say that is because over in Nollywood they have more budget, more equipment, they have more sponsors, more investors and even foreigners tend to like come into the country to shoot mostly in Lagos, mostly in Abuja. So I think that's what Kano is aspiring to be. With some 80 million speakers of the Hausa language spread across West and Central Africa, Not to mention the vast Nigerian diaspora, Cannywood's potential market is huge. To spread their work, filmmakers can even count on a new dedicated streaming service. We decided to come up with our own platform, at our own level, using our own resources to enable us to stream our northern films all over Nigeria. This is what prompted us to create this platform so that Cannywood can be part of this progress the world is witnessing. Cannywood is also breaking the mould with storylines that are not commonly seen in Hausa films. Filmmakers have to navigate between their desire for modernity and the Muslim-majority region's social conservatism. The reason why I'm trying to make film in Hausa in Nigeria is because I want people to watch Hausa movies the same way they watch Indian, Chinese, Turkish or Arabic movies. They don't understand the language, but they enjoy the acting. That's why, as a Muslim filmmaker, I want to make movies that the whole world can watch, even if they don't understand the language. With scarce resources and the prospect of censorship, young filmmakers are facing a number of challenges. But their extensive creativity is a powerful driver for Cannywood.

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