VIDEOS IN MOTION - fasopo

targeting the global film market. 131 By applying this strategy, Emelonye aligned himself with anumber of Nigerian diasporic directors active in the United States and in Canada who have decidedto produce higher budget films to target international cinema audiences. 132 While the work of thesedirectors is making Nigerian cinema and Nollywood gain a new position in the World cinemalandscape, their films are introducing important aesthetic and narrative transformations which, as Imentioned several times throughout this dissertation, are progressively moving these films awayfrom Nigerian popular audiences.While Izoya’s production strategies try to reduce the distance between mainstream Nollywoodfilms and diasporic productions by accepting the rules of the Nigerian video market, Emelonye’sattitude is oriented toward the creation of a space for the emergence of an author-cinema movementwithin Nollywood, a movement which aims at repositioning Nollywood within the global cinemaarena. The other production companies that I mentioned above can all be located between theopposite poles represented by Izoya’s and Emelonye’s works. Some of them, such as IGB in Italyand Anaabel in Belgium, tend to reproduce the mainstream Nollywood formula, but they sufferfrom the lack of connections within the industry’s environment in Nigeria. The works they producehardly circulate outside the diasporic circles. Thus they are not economically self-sufficient, andsurvive thanks to the constant dedication of their creators and the support of the local diasporiccommunities. Other companies, such as GVK in Italy, tried to move beyond the boundaries tracedby the Nigerian and African diaspora, but even if their attempt to create an intercultural filmlanguage that could appeal to both African and European audiences has been well received, theyfound themselves stuck in an ambiguous position. The films they produce are not “Nollywoodstyle”enough to captivate Nigerian popular audiences, but are not “European” enough to accesscinema distribution in the West.A focus on Nigerian video production in ItalyThe production and distribution strategies that diasporic Nigerian companies embracedconditioned the contents of their films. But inevitably, the specificities of the narrative and aestheticchoices that have been adopted oriented the product toward specific segments of the audience,131 See also footnote 73 in chapter three.132 I refer here to Nigerian diasporic directors based in the United States, such as Toni Abulu (Back to Africa, Crazy Likea Fox), and based in Canada, such as Lonzo Nnzekwe (Anchor Baby) and Onyekachi (Lucky) Ejim (The Tenant). Seealso chapter three.181