About the Book:

Captures the excitement and vitality of a spontaneous film movement.

Video filmmaking is a boom industry in Nigeria. About 7,000 new titles appeared between 1992 and 2005. While most are of poor quality and made quickly on low budgets, some productions are feature-length and pull in stars from other entertainment sectors. These videos seem to have an almost endless supply of plots that are liberally copied from popular, mainstream films and television programs. Nollywood examines the lives and experiences of those involved in this multimillion-dollar industry. Interviews with producers, actors, distributors, and others capture the excitement and vitality of this homegrown industry that has emerged spontaneously and without external support. As it spreads continent-wide, the Nigerian video phenomenon is a potent counter to Afro-pessimism, demonstrating the possibility of reviving the African film industry and developing a cinema-going public to support it.

What people say:

"The book is rooted in a firm understanding of the economies of this new media ... This is an extremely important analysis of a phenomenon, which is neither cinema nor television but nevertheless offers feature-length fictional works to a mass audience.." — Roy Armes, Professor Emeritus of Film, Middlesex University in London

"Excellent, attractive, and valuable ... the phenomenon has become so huge and the videos have spread so widely in Africa and elsewhere that they have begun to attract a good deal of attention. This book is a superb introduction to the subject." — Jonathan Haynes, Professor of English, Long Island University

"A fascinating insight into one of the most dynamic cultural phenomena of contemporary Africa." — Graham Furniss, Professor of African Language Literature, University of London

"This is an essential book on one of the most explosive film movements in recent memory ... Barrot's volume ... [is] a book that belongs in all film libraries, both personal and institutional, and gives the reader the best available examination of Nollywood cinema to date...." — Senses of Cinema

About the Author:

Pierre Barrot works in the Department for Cultural Co-operation and Action at the French Embassy in Algiers, and was formerly the Regional Audio-Visual Attaché at the French Embassy in Lagos.