Crafting the Production and Circulation of African Screen Worlds
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Published:April 2025
From Infrastructures to Treehouses: Circulations in Nollywood Distribution, Locations, and Craft
Since 2010 a landscape of circulations and “infrastructures” has dominated Nollywood studies. This chapter puts forward an approach in which the flows are more contingent, less directed and “leaking out” at every stage in a film’s life cycle, during both production and reception as well as distribution. The first part of the chapter looks at location filmmaking in Igboland, exploring the flows through a scene populated by filmmakers, on- and off-duty actors, location managers, owners of the houses where films are shot, and other house owners who incorporate filmic images into their homes. The chapter then explores the recent phenomenon of studio production in Lagos, including fabricators working on film sets (set designers, carpenters, painters), and those in the wider world (such as architects, interior designers, and furniture makers). The conclusion crystalizes the approach in the idea of the “treehouse” as a counterpoint to “infrastructure.”
Filmography
References
Entrepreneurialism and Enterprise: Film Students Redefining Ghana's Creative Landscape
This chapter, situated within the broader national discourse and perturbation of the disconnect between creative arts education and artistic practice, examines the praxis of two contemporary Ghanaian filmmakers, Kofi Asamoah and Peter Sedufia, whose appropriation of “small-screen cinema” models initiated a new trend in digital-online content distribution and consumption. It contends that although these filmmakers commenced at the interstices, their esprit de corps and entrepreneurialism in appropriating technological affordances and proficiencies to drive the microprocesses associated with film production and distribution enabled them to transition from a nontheatrical, experimental, small-screen mobile platform to mainstream artistic endeavor. By analyzing the praxis of these filmmakers, the chapter seeks to contribute to the ongoing discourse surrounding creative arts education and graduate employability while highlighting the potential for technological advancements to bridge the gap and facilitate the integration into mainstream artistic endeavors.
Filmography
References
South Africa's Female Only Filmmakers Project: From On-Screen to Calling the Shots
From 2000 to 2007, of the fifty-five South African films made, only six were directed by women, and only nine were written by women. In response, the South African National Film and Video Foundation initiated a project known as the Female Only Filmmakers project. This chapter focuses on the first iteration of the project, from 2013 to 2016, which was led by the film producer Bongiwe Selane, and it analyzes three of the films that were made as part of the project (and which are all examples of women moving from acting backgrounds into a rare opportunity to reveal their writing and directing talent): Panic Button (2014), The Groom’s Price (2017), and Mmino wa Modimo (2017). The chapter draws on interviews conducted with the filmmakers and is complemented by a documentary film the chapter’s author has made on the same topic titled From One Woman to Another: The Screen Worlds of Bongiwe Selane (2023).
Filmography
References
Female Film Entrepreneurs in Ghana: Shirley Frimpong-Manso and Evelyn Asampana in Focus
Digital production and spectatorship have fundamentally disrupted the way Ghanaian filmmakers make movies and run their businesses. Digital distribution mechanisms have devastated parts of the industry principally because consumers no longer buy DVDs due to the accessibility of films on digital platforms such as YouTube, while at the same time distribution on online platforms has opened up new business models. This chapter examines women’s experiences of the digital transition through a comparison of two contemporary Ghanaian female filmmakers: Shirley Frimpong-Manso and Evelyn Asampana. Whether by developing a bespoke distribution platform or trying to build a business on YouTube, Frimpong-Manso and Asampana were ambitiously trying to seize digital opportunities, something that required a constellation of resources and competencies, so they could build the kinds of careers they wanted and produce the kinds of movies that resonated with their audiences.