VIDEOS IN MOTION - fasopo

way it defined their capacity of crossing social and cultural boundaries (chapter six). Secondly, Ianalyze the way the mobility of videos themselves, and particularly the reproduction/reinvention ofthe video genre within diasporic settings, transformed the main features of Nigerian videosnarratives’ and aesthetics (chapter seven).Intertextuality, remediation and creolization (cf. Hannerz 1987; Cohen and Toninato 2009) areprocesses that have characterized the formation of mainstream Nollywood aesthetics and narrativessince the early days of the industry. Nigerian videos are, in fact, the result of various national andtransnational cultural influences (such as local television series, Yoruba travelling theatre, OnitshaMarket Literature, South African photo romances, South American soap operas, Indian and Chinesefilms, Spaghetti westerns, Hollywood B-movies) that shaped the main genres of Nollywood. As aresult of these processes Nollywood films are deeply transnational products, which incarnate thecosmopolitan modernity of contemporary Nigerian cities. An analysis of the film language ofmainstream Nollywood releases suggests that, because of their creolized and transnational nature, itis difficult to categorize the films into existing genres. Videos are characterized by a specificgenre’s openness which is an important element to consider in analyzing the videos’ capacity totravel and be enjoyed by audiences outside the boundaries of Nigeria and of Africa. This opennessis the defining aspect of the particular “addressivity” (Barber 2007: 138) that characterizes Nigerianvideos. This consists in a specific way of addressing the audience that permits engaging multiplegeographical and demographical strata (the ethnic, the national, the transnational) and which hashad a fundamental role in shaping Nollywood’s transnational success.If Nigerian videos’ capacity to travel can be related to the implicit openness of their aestheticsand narratives, transnational mobility itself has had an impact on the transformation of theseaesthetics and narratives. In my research I focus particularly on the production of Nigerian videoswithin the Nigerian diaspora in Europe. The central area of interest is Italy, and specifically twoNigerian production companies based in the peninsula. Each of them have adopted differentaesthetic and narrative choices that reveal diverging marketing strategies. Through the analysis oftheir work and through the comparison with the films produced by other Nigerian productioncompanies emerged in Europe, the last chapter of this section intends to propose a definition of the“Nollywood abroad” phenomenon. If in fact the Nigerian videos produced in Europe by diasporicproduction companies share a number of elements with the videos produced in Nigeria, they alsopresent numerous original aspects. Some of the European production companies market theirproducts as part of the Nollywood phenomenon, trying to achieve a recognition through thestrategic use of this branding. Others contest the international understanding of the Nollywood13