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Jade L. Miller, Nollywood Central London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016
Jade L. Miller's monograph Nollywood Central is an important addition to the body of scholarly work on the most vibrant film industry on the African continent for two reasons. The book is a useful introductory text for students and researchers interested in the foundations of Nollywood as a cultural product in relation to other local and international media. In addition, it manages to clearly outline the trajectory, production practices, internal organisation, legality, and continued spread of Nollywood as an industry, attesting to its informality and disconnection from global media networks. Drawing on a mixture of detailed historical contextualization, critical film analysis, interviews, and insights gained from attending film festivals and related events held in Lagos, Abuja and elsewhere, Miller accounts for the most salient features of Nigeria's film industry, ensuring that Nollywood Central provides an important contribution to African film scholarship.
The first chapter attempts a historical overview of the formation of the industry and the cultural product that is "Nollywood." Miller cites the roles of the Structural Adjustment Programs of the 1980s, the Yoruba travelling theatre and its immediate successors (and technological infrastructure), and video films, as well as the informality of small- and medium-sized entrepreneurs as antecedents to Nollywood. She explores Lagos, the birthplace of Nollywood, as a creative city with its geographical and economic position within broader major cultural industries to conclude that Africa's largest film industry is fragmented and "partially disembedded from the global order . . . with opportunities and challenges" (28). Miller's second chapter offers a comprehensive overview of the production, distribution infrastructure, and mechanisms...