Nigerian Video Film Cultures

Abstract

In Nigeria, the weakening of the state parallels the rise of the insecurities of everyday life. Traditional means of social promotion such as education or employment in public offices have ceased to exist. Movie making has proven to be a profitable activity and become a means of social promotion for unemployed but creative youth. Nigerian Video Film Cultures started as free enterprise and Nigerian video films have become prime media for the articulation of public discourse. The production and distribution are based on an alternative network for the distribution of video content. The language combines (language combines motifs) motifs from Western and Indian cinema. Nigerian Video Cultures challenge the
global systems of video production and distribution. Can they also challenge the dominance of the Western system of visual representation? This is the main question addressed by this paper. The author combines the results of the research by colleagues from anthropology and media and film studies, with the fieldwork conducted in December of 2006 in Nigeria and online since then. She proposes that Nigerian Video Film Cultures subvert the dominant systems of video production and distribution, but they also provide space for the articulation of public discourse by innovating the film language itself.