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Jonathan Haynes. 2016. Nollywood: The Creation of Nigerian Film Genres. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 375 pp.
It is not uncommon for artistic expressions to bear true reflection of the societies that birth them, that being the inalienable duty and quintessential feature of arts. What is, perhaps, is to chance upon a parallel between the very structure of a society and the structure of its film industry. For, just as Lagos, indeed Nigeria, is a huge testimony to private efforts in providing housing in an unplanned, unregulated manner, so Nollywood, third in the world after Hollywood and Bollywood, provides a place for Nigerians to "live"-employment-wise-all generated by small scale independent producers. Such is the near-complete absence of government input in the lived realities of Nigerians and the resilience of the creative industry practitioners, a fact Haynes notes explicitly. Nollywood: The Creation of Nigerian Film Genres traces the contours of Nigerian video film industry in its kaleidoscopic representation of Nigeria's postcolonial realities as captured through Nollywood. As a brand, Nollywood has almost completely eclipsed other subdivisions of the Nigerian film industry. Haynes clearly delineates "Nollywood, " as...