Nigerian Film Industry Suffering Under Sharia Law

Film industries in Nigeria have recently been restricted and put down by Islamic Sharia law. Many of the films made in the industry there copy popular and successful forms found inindustry is based in Kano, Nigeria (which also happens to be an Islamic city who follows Sharia law.)

First there was a 6 month ban on filming absolutely anything at all because of a tape released of an actress during an "amorous" phone call. The ban has been lifted, but now they are not allowed to have any singing or dancing in their films. They are not allowed to portray anything that is outside the traditional life or that questions the traditional way of being according to Sharia and that those things are "immoral to the Hausa culture". (The Hausa people are an ethnic group found in West Africa, like Nigeria, Niger, Ghana, Chad, Cameroon, and neighboring places. Their language is also called Hausa.)

Many have lost their jobs and countless productions have been halted, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars in the Nigerian film industry (which in the 3rd largest in the world behind Hollywood and Bollywood.) One film producer, Iyan Tama, may even be sent to jail for supposedly releasing his film "Tsinstiya" (a Hausa langauge version of West Side Story) without it going through the censors and being approved first.