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Reviewed by:
  • Nollywood – léphenomène video au Nigeria ed. by P. Barrot
  • Françoise Ugochukwu
P. Barrot (ed.), Nollywood – léphenomène video au Nigeria. Paris: ĽHarmattan (pb €18 – 2 7475 7971 9). 2005, 175pp.

This is the first book written in French on the Nigerian video industry – a landmark born of the authors’ desire to share this ‘phenomenon’ with the Francophone world. The first pages set the scene, approaching the Nigerian video production from a Francophone point of view and highlighting the opposition between the often contemplative, rural films from Sahel producers and the urban setting and frantic pace of Nigerian video films. The book presents two distinctive parts: the first, undeniably the most informative in its global and historical approach, is made up of six insightful chapters on the ‘Nigerian exception’, written by a seasoned journalist and regional audiovisual French attaché in Nigeria who spent more than ten years in West Africa and displays a first-hand knowledge and balanced appreciation of the Nigerian situation. The second part, titled ‘Nollywood invades Africa’, complements the other with five chapters from various authors, most of them Africans, focusing on the reception of Nigerian video films on the continent. Those two parts are brought together by one of the distinctive features of the book: a well-presented and useful presentation of a selection of ten video films produced between 2000 and 2004, concluding each chapter and giving a glimpse of the eighty films quoted in the book. This blend of reflection and direct contact with the material discussed, coupled with the pictures grouped at the heart of the book, offers a user-friendly approach to the vast Nigerian production – the first in the world for the number of its yearly releases (some 1,200). An appendix contains three more articles of secondary interest, a list of the Nigerian video films mentioned, a bibliography and a brief presentation of authors.

The book considers the Nigerian video production in the context of African cinema, theatre, TV productions and popular literature, outlines its development and suggests possible Bollywood influences. It ventures into statistics in Chapter 4, offering figures on the number of films submitted to [End Page 287] censorship since 1994, the use of Nigerian languages and growing importance of English language, the positive impact of the industry on local employment and the widening Nigerian market. It surveys the main themes treated and reflects on their relevance to the Nigerian and African public. An interesting Chapter 9 on Hausa video films reveals the artistic quality of these productions, the talent and active participation of female actors and the huge impact of the Shari’a on the local production and viewing habits since 2000. Chapters 10–12 report the widening interest generated by the Nigerian production in neighbouring countries, Niger in particular but also Benin and Cameroon, and in the rest of Africa, with Congolese pastors using Nigerian video films for evangelistic purposes. Kenya gets hooked to the Nigerian production, thanks to subtitling, a massive distribution inspired by piracy, and innovative marketing techniques.

Producers, marketers, actors, emerging and confirmed stars and other players are gradually introduced and their various roles outlined, with occasional anecdotes and highlights from interviews. The book shows the active part played by the three major players in the federation – Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa – in the video production, the strategic importance of the language chosen and the way each of the regions complements the other to offer an often multicultural and highly varied viewing. A number of common features emerge, with most of the films shot in urban centres and in predominantly indoor settings, and their presentation of the rural areas differing considerably from that of Francophone cinema films. Thematic analysis confirms how much this production is inspired by what the editor calls the ‘permanent suffering and smiling Nigerian tragedy’ and by the Nigerian familiarity with the supernatural. A number of Pentecostal churches have produced video films; others are using secular videos for teaching purposes. This other Nigerian ‘exception’ has attracted the authors’ attention and given rise to mixed comments, while the occasional political undertone of video films did not escape their scrutiny. This is a dense, rich, warm and well...

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