Africa's first film city

In Lagos, a vast patch of scrubland is being imagined as the future home of Kebulania, an ambitious African film city on the edge of Nigeria’s biggest metropolis – and one of the global centres of Nollywood, the country’s hugely productive film industry.

Nigerian journalist Samuel Okocha follows the project in its earliest, most uncertain days – when the vision is big, but the buildings are yet to rise.

At the proposed site, he joins community members, contractors and staff from Del-York Creative Arts, an American-founded film and media training company based in Lagos, as traditional leaders offer prayers and blessings and local residents weigh hopes for jobs, training and renewed activity in the area. A tour of the landscape leads to an ancient, now-silent jetty that once bustled as a trading hub, raising questions about how a modern film city might help bring it back to life.

Earlier, at the local royal palace, the traditional seat of authority for the host community, Samuel sits in on delicate negotiations between community representatives and the project’s backers. And in Victoria Island, he meets Del-York’s CEO to hear the personal motivations, mission and long-term vision behind Kebulania – including how the project plans to invest in training a new generation of creative workers.

Presenter: Samuel Okocha
Producer: Ashley Byrne.
A Made in Manchester Production for the BBC World Service