The Oil-Palm of Nigeria

A silent film made for British Instructional Films Ltd, by Graham Ball, a film expert attached to the Department of Overseas Trade, in 1928.

This information film illustrates the production of the oil-palm as the then most important export from Nigeria. The film begins by showing the location of the main palm-oil producing areas, illustrating the complete process of production from harvest to distribution for local and export sales.

The film is one of a series of films intended for screening by the BIF to educate and inform British audiences about industry in the Colonies. ‘The Palm Oil of Nigeria’ was intended as a specifically educational film, for non-theatrical hire through the company’s Educational Hire department. It was first shown in the Imperial Institute’s cinema within the Imperial Institute, South Kensington, which had been opened by Queen Victoria in 1893. The cinema was created in a converted gallery of the Institute in the 1920s with the specific object of screening films about life and work in the British Empire.