The video-film industry of Nigeria has been described as one of the greatest explosions of popular culture that Africa has ever seen. It is the first economically self-sustainable film industry in Africa.
Initially through the use of video technology, and now affordable digital technology, Nigeria produces more than 2000 films per year. The industry, popularly called Nollywood, is currently ranked as the second-largest in the worldin terms of output after India’s Bollywood.
Nollywood’s popularity has spread across the African continent, to the African diaspora in Europe, North America and Australia. It has even gone as far as the Caribbean and Pacific Islands.

Born out of adversity:
The first seeds for the emergence of the industry were planted in the late 1980s. Nigeria was experiencing difficulties as a result of political unrest and measures imposed by the International Monetary Fundand World Bank.
This economic climate made film-making on celluloid prohibitively expensive, and created a fertile ground for other, more affordable methods to develop. Nigerian businessman Kenneth Nnebueis generally credited with producing the first major Nollywood film, Living in Bondage(1992).
The film follows the tale of a man who joins a secret cult and murders his wife in a ritual sacrifice to gain wealth. It is set within the thematic and stylistic characteristics of superstition, witchcraft, religion, the quest for upward mobility and melodrama in Lagos’s urban landscape.
It explores corruption, love triangles and domestic disputes – all themes that have since been replicated in many Nollywood narratives.

From VHS to digital:
Since the VHS industry of the 1990s, Nollywood has embraced digital technology. The industry captures the entrepreneurial spirit of Nigeria through the use of affordable and accessible technology. These are small-scale digital cameras, desktop editing software, and distribution primarily on DVD and video compact disc. These sell for around $2 per copy in Nigeria, and are watched at home, on street corners, in cineclubs or in video parlours.
While the term Nollywood is generally used to refer to the entire industry, it is important to note that it is not unified. There is a great deal of diversity and many different variations. Different genres exist, including horror, melodrama, comedy and action, as well as language divisions. It also includes films in English, Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa.

From budget to blockbuster:
A number of Nollywood directors have started to make higher quality films. These are sometimes referred to as “New Nollywood”, New Nigerian Cinema, or the New Wave. These films are seen more widely than standard Nollywood fare and are accessible to non-African audiences. New Nollywood includes the work of directors such as Kunle Afolayan, Obi Emelonye, Jeta Amata, Stephanie Okereke and Mahmood Ali-Balogun.

Nollywood can also be watched on pay-TV networks and free-to-air broadcasters across the continent and beyond. South Africa’s M-Net, which broadcasts across Africa, has channels dedicated to Nollywood. Intrepid distributors, mostly from the African diaspora, have created video-on-demand platforms for Nollywood. One example is the huge iROKOv. This has increased accessibility to African diaspora audiences.
Even Netflix has acquired a number of Nigerian films, indicative of the platform’s realisation of Nollywood’s popularity and commercial potential across the world.

READ MORE
http://theconversation.com/from-nollywood-to-new-nollywood-the-story-of-nigerias-runaway-success-47959

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