Abstract
The history of the Nigerian cinema remains a popular discourse in scholarship. However, one phase in the history of its emergence and development remains more prominent and dominant over others—the video boom era. While some scholars discuss this with appreciation of the doggedness and determination of its players, some are condescending, even condemning as the industry is mirrored against the professionality and remarkability of renowned industries especially Hollywood. This negativity has persisted, warranting that some industry players distance themselves from the sobriquet, Nollywood, which has come to stand for the Nigerian video and film industry. This study takes up the call from industry players for scholarship to re-evaluate and redefine the contemporary Nollywood whose history as well as industrial activity has gone beyond the video boom era. Beyond discussing factors that are currently reshaping Nollywood, this study uses two select films and data collected via interviews with over 20 industry players to re-evaluate production and distribution of films in the industry.
Highlights
In this study, I use two Nollywood films to interrogate the industry’s formalization, aesthetic regeneration, and overall transformation
Its idea as well as use remain controversial within the industry, especially among film practitioners, new Nollywood depicts a blueprint, an approach to filmmaking in Nollywood
New Nollywood is a strategy adopted by filmmakers to make films characteristically different from the qualities that have been stamped to Nollywood films—low budget, small screen consumption, amateurism in acting and directing, and poor storyline (Ajibade & Williams, 2012)
Summary
I use two Nollywood films to interrogate the industry’s formalization, aesthetic regeneration, and overall transformation. Its idea as well as use remain controversial within the industry, especially among film practitioners, new Nollywood depicts a blueprint, an approach to filmmaking in Nollywood. It departs and differs from the blueprint of the video boom era which has invariably become the old Nollywood. I discovered in the cause of data collection that some industry players relate to these labels as category for individual filmmakers They fail to perceive them as an evaluation of practice, a business strategy, and an inevitable transformation in the course of evolution. They appreciate that the industry is evolving, but perceive the labels as a derogatory and separatist attack on practice
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