Nollywood – Nigerian Video Films: From Rages to Riches

Lecture 1http://nollywoodvienna.wordpress.com/

Derek Barkerwww.derekbarker.info

Dr.Derek.Barker@gmail.com

Course Description IThe course will trace the phenomenon of self-financed African produced video films in Nigeria tracing an arc from the early 1990s to the present. The African film industry has undergone radical changes that reflect an increasingly globalized economy, technological innovations and rapid developments in patterns of cultural production and consumption. This revolution is characterized by the low-budget video camera made films commonly referred to as Nollywood.

Course Description IIWhile these films have come under criticism for their low production value and popularization of negative cultural stereotypes, the Nigerian video industry has risen to enormous proportions and has risen far beyond its initial local audience focus to reach all of Africa and beyond. The purpose of this course is to examine the rise of Nollywood and the genesis of a popular African art form.

Course Description IIIThrough a combination of films and readings, students will explore how Nollywood, in comparison with the established FESPACO film industry and Hollywood, depicts the society and culture of Nigeria, and Africa as a whole. In addition, the course will engage students in debates on how popular films affect historical imaginations and memory. This course will introduce Nollywood and provide students with the necessary theoretical tools to understand and decode this phenomenon.

Lecture Venue

Lecture venue: Seminar Room 1, Department of African Studies, University of Vienna, Austria

Time: 15h00 - 17h00

Lecture Dates• Lecture 1: October 17, 2014• Lecture 2: October 24, 2014• Lecture 3: October 31, 2014• Lecture 4: November 14, 2014• Lecture 5: November 21, 2014• Lecture 6: November 28, 2014

Lecture Dates• Lecture 7: December 5, 2015• Lecture 8: December 12, 2014• Lecture 9: January 9, 2015• Lecture 10: January 16, 2015• Lecture 11: January 23, 2015• EXAM: January 30, 2015

Aims of the Course• To gain a broad overview of the

history and developments in Nollywood video film production

• To obtain a broad understanding of theoretical approaches to popular cultural production

Aims of the Course• To undertake ideological

analyses of film • To obtain an in-depth

understanding of the current state affairs in the Nigerian film industry

And…

Aims of the Course

•To have fun!

Pre-viewing questionsDocumentary: “Nollywood Babylon” - About the video film phenomenon in Nigeria; follows inter alia the making of “Bent Arrows” directed by Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen

1)Where & when did the phenomenon of Nollywood originate?

Pre-viewing questions 2

2) What was the title of the first major Nollywood film?3) What are the major themes of Nollywood films? 4) Why do Nigerians not go to the cinema?

Pre-viewing Questions 35) What production budgets are mentioned in the documentary? (Note: 5 euro = 1,000 Nigerian Naira; 5000 euro = 1 million Nigerian Naira)6) Who controls production? Government Europeans? Directors? Actors? Distributors / “Marketers”?

Pre-viewing questions 4

7) Who is the primary target audience?8) Who are the arbiters of “taste” or “quality”? 9) How are films distributed and consumed?

Living in Bondage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJjt1abCv34

Homework

Before Lecture 2 (Friday 24 October) do 2 things: 1)Watch “Living in Bondage”2)Read “Lights, Camera, Africa!”

The beginningsThe first true Nollywood film resulted from an ill-advised business venture. In 1992 Kenneth Nnebue, a trader, ordered a large consignment of blank videotapes from Taiwan. Finding them hard to sell, he hired a theatre director to make a cheap film and copied it onto the tapes to boost their appeal. "Living in Bondage", the story of a farmer in a big city who loses his wife and is haunted by her ghost, sold more than

half a million copies.