I Was Nigeria’s First Video Vixen – Remi Surutu

Remi Surutu and her late daughter

Nollywood actress Remi Surutu has said that she was the first video vixen in Nigeria. She recently had her say during an interview on Oyinmomo, and fans have been reacting.

According to her, she ventured into the role shortly after starting her acting career, and she ended up featuring in early music videos by Fuji and Juju legends.

Remi added that she also appeared in videos for top musicians like Ebenezer Obey and Sikiru Ayinde Barrister.

Her words, “Not long after I started my acting career, I saw Mr Babs Fashina. He was at Lagos Television (LTV 8) at the time, and he told me they were planning to start shooting music videos in Nigeria.

That’s why I always say I’m the first video vixen in Nigeria. I danced in Ebenezer Obey’s ‘Eniyan ti mo feran ju’ and Barrister’s ‘Fuji Garbage.’”

WOW.

Nollywood is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term dates back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in The New York Times. Due to the history of evolving meanings and contexts, there is no clear or agreed-upon definition for the term, which has made it a subject to several controversies.

The origin of the term “Nollywood” remains unclear; Jonathan Haynes traced the earliest usage of the word to a 2002 article by Matt Steinglass in the New York Times, where it was used to describe Nigerian cinema.

Charles Igwe noted that Norimitsu Onishi also used the name in a September 2002 article he wrote for the New York Times. The term continues to be used in the media to refer to the Nigerian film industry, with its definition later assumed to be a portmanteau of the words “Nigeria” and “Hollywood”, the American major film hub.

Film-making in Nigeria is divided largely along regional, and marginally ethnic and religious lines. Thus, there are distinct film industries – each seeking to portray the concern of the particular section and ethnicity it represents. However, there is the English-language film industry which is a melting pot for filmmaking and filmmakers from most of the regional industries.