VIDEOS IN MOTION - fasopo

directors of GVK, Omoigui and Sandretti, tried for the first time to address both Nigerian andItalian audiences and thus took the first steps toward the construction of a rather intercultural filmlanguage. As the two of them have emphasized in interviews (Sandretti 2010 and Omoigui 2010),during the shooting of this film the first conflicts about different ways of conceiving of filmmakingemerged, pushing the directors to find original compromises. The debate they had over the choiceof the soundtrack is an example of this process. Sandretti, for instance, contrasted the use of atypical Nollywood-style soundtrack (usually computer-made music, often over-dramatic andcontinuous) and pushed for the introduction of an Afro-beat-style soundtrack, inevitably resonatingwith Italian audiences, who are familiar with musicians such as Fela Kuti and Tony Allen and whocould thus better respond to this type of music. Omoigui opposed this solution because heconsidered the typical Nollywood-style soundtrack indispensable to drive the audience’s attentiontoward the melodramatic peaks of the plot. At the end, the result is a interesting mix, in which theAfro-beat sound is used to give an aura of coolness to the main gangster character, while theNollywood-style sound intervenes in the most dramatic and emotional scenes of the film.V: the shooting of Blinded Devil VI: the shooting of Blinded DevilThe trend GVK started with Akpegi Boys was consolidated through the production of BlindedDevil (image V and VI). While on one side the film keeps a popular and entertainment-orientedstyle, at the same time it engages in a social realism type of narrative, inspired by the Italianfilmmaking tradition of Neorealism and politically engaged documentary. 135 The film focuses onthe problems that a young Nigerian couple experiences in Italy while trying to settle down andobtain regular documents. The bureaucratic difficulties the protagonists encounter, the obstacles135 The personality of the Italian director Vittorio De Seta and his last film Lettere dal Sahara (2006) can be consideredexamples of this tradition.185