Veteran Nollywood filmmaker, Antar Laniyan has shared that his desire is to build his own film academy for young talents who wants to hone their acting skills but he is hindered by one thing.
In an interview with Punch Newspaper, Laniyan admits that despite all his years he has been in the Nigerian movie industry, he has not been able to save enough money to build his dreams.
He said, “If any rich man approaches me now, I will tell him I want an academy where I can raise new talents. This is what I know how to do best, but when you don’t have money, your ideas will go to bed. The problem with our industry is that people believe an actor is as rich as the role he plays. That is a fake assumption; we are not rich. But if we have people who can help us, we can do better. The easterners help each other. Once they see that an individual has talent, the rich ones among them are always willing to support him or her. Though we have some selfless southerners too, I have yet to get any help from them.”
media, Laniyan said, “If you deceive yourself, it will be hard to get helpers. If you appear to be rich on social media, people will conclude you are rich.”Expressing optimism for the future of the industry, the talented actor added, “I know things will get better for actors. Many movies are going to the cinema now and one makes more money there than selling DVD. I know there is a better tomorrow for Nollywood; I see us attaining greater heights”.