A Tribute to Nollywood

There is a tribute to Nollywood, and the impact of Nigerian culture by David Kaiza, published at the East African, and at AllAfrica.com The New Black Self-Image

Like Bollywood, Nollywood is formula stuff: Predictable, racy plots that start and end in tension. There is witchcraft, raffia skirts, men and women in agbadas. Christianity clashes with tradition. African culture clashes with European life.
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It is mostly low budget, low quality work, making full use of the sensational themes — sex, crime, drugs and broken homes.

But it is what it is doing to building the black self-image that makes Nollywood perhaps the most powerful cultural project since the coming of Christianity. The black face becomes the action face; the hero with the rounded life at the centre of a completely black world. This contrasts sharply with the condescending treatment of black people in Hollywood. Obviously, the millions who tune in to Nollywood daily feel something they don’t get in Hollywood.

The future impact of this is beyond what Pan Africanists a generation ago would have dared dream: Almost at one stroke, these films have ring-fenced the African world.
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The impact of a uniquely Nigerian style has been undeniable in the past 40 years in literature, sports, fashion, crime and now cinematography.

You can read the whole article here: The New Black Self-Image.