Top on their demands was the call for stiffer penalties against piracy and other forms of intellectual theft.
The practitioners, numbering about 100, made the call while drawing attention to the perennial threats piracy poses to their profession.
According to them, piracy is a major albatross to the growth of the movie industry as it discouraged investments in film making and undermine creativity.
Speaking during the protest, movie Producer, Tunde Kelani, said the trend had gotten to a dangerous dimension requiring a quick check.
“This is destroying lives, property, business and the industry as a whole,” Kelani said.
Kelani also sued for the elevation of piracy to the same level as armed robbery, financial crimes and narcotics.
Another movie producer, Kunle Afolayan claimed his latest film- “October 1” had just been pirated before official commissioning, he lamented about the situation and called for serious legislation.
Afolayan advocated severe punishments for offenders, saying the existing legislation against the problem was too weak to serve as deterrence.
Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola in response to the aggrieved movie makers, assured them of the state government’s collaboration in the fight against piracy.
He described the industry as a self-driven one that thrived even without any take-off grant from government.
Fashola saluted the courage of the film industry stakeholders to tackle the menace head-on.
According to Fashola, “Piracy is a global phenomenon, not just a Nigerian problem but what has been done in other climes is that they have been able to reduce it to the barest minimum.”
See more photos from the protest below:
