The Nationwide Movie and Video Censors Board has defended its approval of the Nollywood movie A Very Soiled Christmas, saying the title was cleared after a radical evaluation that discovered it didn’t insult or trivialise the Christian religion.
The Government Director of the NFVCB, Dr Shaibu Husseini, gave the clarification on Wednesday through a sequence of posts on X, following public criticism of the movie’s title by Christian teams.
Husseini stated the movie, together with its title, was authorized after regulators thought of the narrative context and the inventive intent of the producers.
In accordance with him, the board interpreted the title as metaphorical relatively than literal.
“Throughout evaluation, the title was interpreted as metaphorical relatively than literal—understood as a reference to human conduct, ethical contradictions, or social realities unfolding throughout a festive interval, and never as an ascription of impropriety to Christmas as a sacred Christian occasion,” he stated.
He defined that the title was assessed inside the broader context of the storyline and themes, not as a direct commentary on Christmas itself.
He added that the movie doesn’t depict, reenact, mock or trivialise the nativity, the delivery of Jesus Christ or any core Christian doctrine.
“There is no such thing as a scene, dialogue, or imagery inside the movie that ridicules Christian worship or theology. In step with established regulatory ideas, the NFVCB locations important emphasis on context and intent over remoted literary or semantic interpretations when exercising its statutory mandate,” he added.
Nevertheless, he stated the NFVCB had engaged the producers of the movie in response to considerations raised by Christian our bodies and communities.
He disclosed that the board requested a modification or stylisation of the title to deal with public sensitivities “with out undermining the inventive integrity and exploitation of the work”.
Husseini stated such post-approval title modifications weren’t uncommon within the movie trade, citing the 2019 Indian film Judgemental Hai Kya, which was renamed after criticism from psychological well being professionals.
In accordance with him, the step taken by the NFVCB was in step with the provisions of the NFVCB Act and aimed toward stopping public misunderstanding and attainable non secular stress.
Husseini stated, “Although engagement is ongoing, we’re happy to report that the producers are responding positively, and steps that may ultimately be taken will likely be according to preserving goodwill amongst stakeholders and audiences.”
The controversy adopted the discharge and promotion of A Very Soiled Christmas, a Nollywood movie produced by actress Ini Edo, which drew criticism from the Christian Affiliation of Nigeria and different Christian teams.
The teams described the title as offensive, arguing that associating Christmas with the phrase “soiled” desecrates the non secular significance of the celebration, which marks the delivery of Jesus Christ.
They known as on the producers to apologise and urged regulators to withdraw or evaluation the movie’s approval.
In response, the producers defended the title as symbolic, saying it displays ethical conflicts and household tensions explored within the storyline relatively than a commentary on Christianity.
The movie has continued to display in cinemas nationwide, at the same time as public debate over its title intensified, prompting the intervention of the Nationwide Movie and Video Censors Board.
