I have a story, a story that I would like to share with you. And it's an African story. It is a story of hope, resilience and glamor.

There was Hollywood. Then came Bollywood. Today we have Nollywood, the third-largest film industry in the world. In 2006 alone, almost 2,000 films were made in Nigeria. Now, try to imagine 40, 50 films wrapped, distributed, every week in the streets of Lagos, Nigeria and West Africa. Some estimates put the value of this industry at 250 million dollars. It has created thousands, if not tens of thousands of jobs. And it's expanding. But keep in mind that this was a grassroots movement. This is something that happened without foreign investment, without government aid, and actually, it happened against all odds, in one of the most difficult moments in Nigerian economy. The industry is 15 years old.

And so maybe you're thinking now, why, how, an Italian filmmaker based in Boston is so interested in this story? And so I think I have to tell you just a few words, a few things about my personal life, because I think there is a connection. My grandfather lived most of his life and is buried in Zambia. My father also lived most of his adult life in East Africa. And I was born in Zambia. Even though I left when I was only three years old, I really felt that Africa was this big part of my life. And it really was a place where I learned to walk. I think I uttered the first words, and my family bought their first home. So when we came back to Italy, and one of the things that I remember the most is my family having this hard time to share stories. It seemed that for our neighbors and friends, Africa was either this exotic place, this imaginary land that probably exists only in their imagination, or the place of horror, famine. And so we were always caught in this stereotype. And I remember really this desire to talk about Africa as a place where we lived and people live and go about their lives, and have dreams like we all have. So when I read in a newspaper in the business page the story of Nollywood, I really felt this is an incredible opportunity to tell a story that goes against all these preconceived notions.

Here I can tell a story of Africans making movies like I do, and actually I felt this was an inspiration for me. I have the good fortune of being a filmmaker-in-residence at the Center of Digital Imaging Arts at Boston University. And we really look how digital technology is changing, and how young, independent filmmakers can make movies at a fraction of the cost. So when I proposed the story, I really had all the support to make this film. And not only had the support, I found two wonderful partners in crime in this adventure. Aimee Corrigan, a very talented and young photographer, and Robert Caputo, a friend and a mentor, who is a veteran of National Geographic, and told me, "You know, Franco, in 25 years of covering Africa, I don't know if I have come across a story that is so full of hope and so fun."

So we went to Lagos in October 2005. And we went to Lagos to meet Bond Emeruwa, a wonderful, talented film director who is with us tonight. The plan was to give you a portrait of Nollywood, of this incredible film industry, following Bond in his quest to make an action movie that deals with the issue of corruption, called "Checkpoint." Police corruption. And he had nine days to make it. We thought this was a good story.

In the meantime, we had to cover Nollywood, and we talked to a lot of filmmakers. But I don't want to create too many expectations. I would like to show you six minutes. And these are six minutes, they really prepared for the TED audience. There are several themes from the documentary, but they are re-edited and made for you, OK? So I guess it's a world premier.

(Video) Action. You cut a nice movie with just 10,000 dollars in Nigeria here. And you shoot in seven days. We're doing films for the masses. We're not doing films for the elite and the people in their glass houses. They can afford to watch their "Robocop" and whatever. I think filmmaking in Nigeria, for those who work in it, is a kind of subsistence filmmaking - what they do to make a living. It's not the fancy filmmaking where you say, oh, you want to put all the razzmatazz of Hollywood, and where you have big budgets. Here is that you make this films, it sells, you jump on to the location again to make another film, because if you don't make the next film, you're not going to feed. So while we're entertaining, we should be able to educate.

I believe in the power of audiovisuals. I mean, 90 percent of the population will watch Nollywood. I think it's the most viable vehicle right now to pass information across a dedicated cable. So if you're making a movie, no matter what your topic is, put in a message in there. You still have to report the incident. He needs proper medical attention. I keep trying to explain to people, it's not about the quality at the moment - the quality is coming. I mean, there are those films that people are making for quality, but the first thing you have to remember about this society is that Africa still has people that live on one dollar a day, and these are the people that really watch these films.

Nollywood is a fantastic industry that has just been born in this part of the world. Because nobody believed that Nollywood can come out of Africa. But our films, they are stories that our people can relate to themselves. They are stories about our people, for our people. And consistently, they are glued to their screen whenever they see the story. Suspense, fun and intrigue. It's the blockbuster comedy. You'll crack your ribs.

We have been so deep into the foreign movies. It's all about the foreign movies. But we can do something too. We can do something, something that when the world see it, they say, wow, this is Nigeria. Just arrest yourself, sergeant. Don't embarrass yourself. Come on. Don't run away. Come back. Come back.

You can now walk the street and see a role model. It