GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

The target of this study was to assess documentary film production in Nigeria: the prospect and challenges. Documentary filmmaking is more than the smart presentation of real life events. In fact, it is more than a profession – it is a mental state committed to the richness and ambiguity of real life. The study observed that documentary film production is a non-fictional motion picture intended to document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record. Documentary film production is processed in different phases such as development, pre-production, production, post-production, and distribution phase. It was also stated in the study that documentary films production has a key role to play in how we see the world.  According to the study, documentary film production encounter challenges such as deciding on a budget, on-location cooperation, rights to use archival footages, research material, and using the right equipment etc. it was finally concluded in the study that it is concluded that the better distribution a film can get, the more it can hope to make reasonable profit. Apparently, one of the recommendations made in the study was that filmmakers need to have reasonable expectations in distribution processes because distribution is required for a film to make a profit. They need to manipulate good business strategies for the distribution process.