Black Market Makes Nollywood History With 51,000-Strong Guinness World Record Screening
Nollywood has made Guinness World Records history after Black Market, the crime thriller from Rixel Studios, drew 51,000 qualifying viewers to a single screening at Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos on September 26. The record-breaking premiere surpassed the previous benchmark of 43,624 people, set in 2015 during a screening of the Filipino film Felix Manalo. While Lagos State Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat put the total number of people at the event at about 64,000, Guinness World Records recognised 51,000 viewers who remained from the beginning of the film to the end. The achievement turned what was initially announced as an ambitious 50,000-person premiere into a record-setting moment for Nigerian cinema. The event was organised through a collaboration involving Rixel Studios, FilmOne Studios, Signet Ring Studios and Switch Visuals Production.
At the centre of Black Market is a predominantly young Nigerian creative team. Fatimah Binta Gimsay directed the film and co-wrote it with Abdul Tijani-Ahmed, while Nora Awolowo and Nicole Ofoegbu served as producers. Omowunmi Dada and Abdul Tijani-Ahmed are credited as co-producers, while the executive-producer credits include Nora Awolowo, Omowunmi Dada, Susan Pwajok, Mike Afolarin, Kene Okwuosa and Ladun Awobokun; the official film site also lists Oreoluwa Awolowo among the executive producers. Damilola Osikoya of Switch Visuals Production led the event-production side of the record attempt. The film stars Linda Ejiofor-Suleiman, Lateef Adedimeji, Omowunmi Dada, Scarlet Gomez, Teniola Aladese, Susan Pwajok, Ibrahim Yekini, popularly known as Itele D Icon, Uzor Arukwe, as well as Folagade Banks, Tomiwa Tegbe, Andrew Yaw Bunting, Shamz Garuba and Adeoluwa Akintoba.
The film itself follows five women operating a cross-border smuggling business amid fuel scarcity and economic pressure, whose tightly organised world begins to unravel after one of their daughters is kidnapped. Shot in Abeokuta, Black Market is Rixel Studios’ second feature after Red Circle and expands the studio’s stated interest in experimenting with the scale and possibilities of Nigerian filmmaking. The record attempt was conceived months before the premiere, with Switch Visuals transforming TBS into a vast open-air cinema and the event running alongside music, food, games and a red carpet before the screening. For producer Nora Awolowo, the undertaking represented another step in Rixel’s attempt to innovate as a young production company; for Switch Visuals CEO Damilola Osikoya, it demonstrated what could happen when ambitious filmmakers and production companies collaborated at scale. With 51,000 viewers now officially recognised, Black Market has moved beyond its status as a new Nollywood film to become part of the record of how cinema can be experienced in Nigeria.
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