Del-York International is a special media company who’s CEO is Linus Idahosa. A movie sector development enthusiast, Idahosa holds interesting views on Nigeria’s movie sector whose ebb and flow he regards as an indication that the industry is very far from being established.

Del-York, he says, was established for the purpose of facilitating the development of Nigeria’s movie sector from the human capital perspective. He speaks vividly on the nature, challenges and possible prospects of the mass dissemination of information in the country, hinging the state of its movie sector largely on substandard human capital base.

In line with its focus on movie sector development, the company recently brought one of the most prestigious film training schools in the world, the New York Film Academy, to Nigeria to hone the skills of aspiring movie makers in the country.

In this encounter, Idahosa reels out the reasons for setting up the school in Nigeria, and why it brought 36 film instructors from America to train over 400 young Nigerians in the art of film making for one-month intensive hands-on training programme.
Read on…

What is Del-York?
Del-York International is a creative industries development company. We are precisely involved in providing cost effective solutions to the human capital problems that underpin the present state of our creative industries, with special focus on the film industry.

Why film?
The film industry is a very powerful sector that is capable of multi_dimensional transformations in any economy. It possesses enormous potentials for rapid and realistic national development for any country that understands the fundamentality of cultural and psychological capital to genuine and sustainable development.

Del-York International has a special bias for film industry development in Nigeria, based on many important reasons, one of which is the fact that we need to properly orientate ourselves; particularly our children, in the beauty, vitality and indispensability of our cultural heritage to the actual progress of our country.

Film is just one of the creative industries. How do you describe it?
The creative industries are the range of intellectual endeavours that centre on the production and sale of ideas in usable forms that connect with the needs, hopes and aspirations of society. Film, theatre, music and other genres constitute the creative industries. In Nigeria, these endeavours are in various degrees of destitution and this has an adverse effect on our development.

Is there any future for Nollywood?
Well, Nigeria’s movie sector is a fledgling turf. And as a toddler, all sorts of imperfections are naturally expected to happen. However, within the context of existing infrastructural availability, institutional backing and legal protection in the country as far as movie production and sale are concerned, Nigerians deserve some real good praise. But we should not stop at that. Quantity is different from quality. Our present rating is in relation to quantity, not quality. It is quality that we need to emphasize more to be able to reap the real benefits of owning a movie sector.

Is that an indictment on the part of government or Nollywood?
There is no room for indictment when you understand the history and dynamics of a people’s inability to soar to profound heights. The colonial cloak is yet to be pulled off our face as a country. The state that we find ourselves in Nigeria and in the entire black world is a function of wrong compromises made by some of our forebears hundreds of years ago. We can at best strive to correct the long existing wrongs and not waste precious time indicting. It’s on the premise of the philosophy of correction that Del-York took it upon itself to facilitate human capital transformation in our country’s movie sector by inviting one of the most respected film schools in the world to train our people.

What is Del-York actually bringing to Nigeria’s movie sector?
We are bringing some fresh air of innovation and high regard for quality production. We are bringing reliable opportunities for better indigenous movie-making in Nigeria. Del-York International is about working closely with government and private institutions in the country to set a new course for the positive evolution of the sector. We will be involved in shooting world_class reels that will be premised on well-researched and well-written Nigerian stories. The whole idea is to begin to project inspiring and captivating images about our country, our rich cultural heritage and our other unique qualities to the world like progressive nations do. So basically, we are bringing a whole lot to the table.

New York Film Academy is one of the most prestigious hands-on training grounds for film producers, actors, actresses, script-writers, cinematographers and all other film sector professionals in the world. It is based in the City of New York in the United States of America and has campuses in other parts of the US. The school conducts international training tours as part of its international outreach programme and it is within the ambit of that programme that we are able to bring the school to Africa for the first time on Nigerian soil!

It will be responsible for familiarizing 400 Nigerians drawn largely from the Niger-Delta region with vital skills in world-class movie-making. It’s well-structured training programme will be an intensive hands-on experience that will widely expose trainees to the essential creative and technical aspects of movie production, featuring the use of high-calibre equipment and the shooting of short demonstrational reels by participants at the twilight period of the scheduled exercise