Nollywood actress and filmmaker, Funke Akindele, has seemingly responded to recent comments by fellow filmmaker Kunle Afolayan regarding the growing pressure on filmmakers to adopt energetic, dance-driven marketing strategies to promote their movies.
Akindele, currently regarded as Nollywood’s highest-grossing filmmaker, saw her 2025 release Behind The Scenes gross ₦2,407,000,000 at the box office. She is widely known for her vibrant promotional style, often using dance videos, comedy skits, and social media trends to market her films.
In a series of posts shared via her Instagram Story on Saturday, the actress dismissed suggestions that her promotional methods were setting an unhealthy standard or hindering others in the industry.
“I’m not the one hindering your progress. Ka rin ka po, yiye nin ye ni,” she wrote.
She emphasized that the entertainment industry is large enough to accommodate diverse approaches to success and encouraged colleagues to find methods that work best for them rather than criticising existing strategies.
“If you can’t beat them or join them, create your own path. No allow jealousy burn you. The sky is so big for everybody to fly,” Akindele added.
The filmmaker further advised those who find the current promotional trends exhausting to explore alternative marketing strategies or engage professional firms to handle publicity.
“Go ahead and create alternative promotion or marketing strategies for promoting your business or hire a company to handle it. You can do it. The opportunities are endless, and everyone has their own path. I’m focused on mine, and I have faith in God’s plan for me,” she stated.
Akindele’s comments come after Kunle Afolayan recently questioned the sustainability of current film promotion trends in Nollywood, particularly the expectation for filmmakers to engage in frequent dance and social media-driven campaigns.
Reflecting on his experience, Afolayan described the demands as exhausting.
“In 2006, I did all the runs, and it was exhausting. I want to make a film if you can guarantee I don’t have to dance to sell that film. We need to come up with other strategies. How do we sell without exhausting ourselves?” he said.
He also expressed concerns about the financial realities behind cinema successes, noting that high visibility does not always translate into proportional earnings for filmmakers.
“I don’t want two billion streams at the cinemas and end up receiving ten million naira,” Afolayan added.
