Nigeria world's 2nd biggest film producer

LOS ANGELES, May 6 (UPI) -- Nigeria passed Hollywood as the world's second-largest film producer after India's Bollywood, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization said.

A UNESCO Institute for Statistics survey released this week said India's Bollywood film industry produced 1,091 feature-length films in 2006. In comparison, Nigeria's Nollywood moviemakers made 872 productions while the United States produced 485 major motion pictures.

"Film and video production are shining examples of how cultural industries, as vehicles of identity, values and meanings, can open the door to dialogue and understanding between peoples, but also to economic growth and development," UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura said in a statement. "This new data on film and video production provide yet more proof of the need to rethink the place of culture on the international political agenda."

The report also showed Japan produced 417 films in 2006, China 330, France 203, Germany 174, Spain 150, Italy 116, South Korea 110 and the United Kingdom 104.

UNESCO said one of the keys to Nollywood's success is Nigerian filmmakers' use of video instead of film, which reduces production costs.

The study showed, however, U.S. movies continue to dominate cinema admissions around the world. All of the top 10 films seen in Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Costa Rica, Namibia, Romania and Slovenia in 2006 were U.S. made.