VIDEOS IN MOTION - fasopo

version of “Afrocentric” traditions intervenes in the plot to provide a cultural model that can helpthe audiences to cope with the identity-related problems that they encounter in their everyday life,and which are connected to the “double absence” and existential in-betweeness that, as I discussedearlier, characterize the experience of living in the diaspora.XI: the poster of Back to AfricaXII: the poster of The Mirror BoyAs discussed throughout this chapter, the specific position in which Nigerian diasporicproduction companies found themselves obliged them to creatively experiment with differentcommercial strategies and narrative choices. In this context the relationship they entertained withthe video industry in Nigeria has been ambiguous. As I have evidenced, most of the diasporicproducers did not have any experience of filmmaking before creating a production company and, inmost cases, they did not have any structured contact within the video industry’s environment either.However, all of them clearly drew inspiration from the Nigerian video phenomenon and used their(often self-appointed) affiliation to Nollywood as a brand to gain some kind of recognition in frontof both Nigerian and European audiences. While they would have probably struggled to emerge andsurvive autonomously, their constant reference to the Nigerian video industry gave them some sortof legitimacy and the strength to further pursue their initiative.192