The President, African caucus of the International Association of Theatre Critics and Head, Department of Theatre and Cultural Studies, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Professor Emmanuel Dandaura has said the book, Trends In Nollywood: A Study of Selected Genres, written by an erudite scholar and cultural administrator, Barclays Foubiri Ayakoroma deserves to be read by all Nollywood professionals, film scholars, Nollywood fans and even the casual lay reader.
This is even as he identifies the mismatch between scholarship and practice as one of the major challenges militating against the expected development of the Nollywood industry despite appreciable improvements in the quality of productions over the years.
Dandaura was speaking as book reviewer at the Lagos public presentation of the book, Ayakoroma’s latest publication, which held at the Cinema Hall 2 of the National Theatre on Tuesday, 2nd December, 2014.
According to him, the inaccessibility of the few serious studies conducted so far on Nollywood industry has made it such that it hardly informs the work of professionals, either because they are published abroad or tucked away on the shelves of many Nigerian Universities, a situation where Ayakoroma’s contribution in the enriching publication becomes significant.
His words: “The book x-rays the evolution, development and thematic preoccupation of Nollywood movies particularly in the first fifteen years of the industry. The author’s choice of very accessible style, lucid language, full colour illustrations, in-depth analysis and bold prints on high quality paper, makes his book a reader’s delight any day.”
“The book is broken into five parts. Part one provides the context of the evolution and development of Cinema in Nigeria. Part two entitle Studies in Genres in Nollywood establishes the theoritical framework. Chapters three, four and five give the authors taxonomy and critical evaluation of the diverse genres in Nollywood using relevant case studies.”
Stressing that the book establishes a symbiosis between the production context of any movie industry and its different film movements or genres, Dandaura maintained that Ayakoroma’s analyses of select movies went beyond the superficial chronicle of stylistic and formal qualities to offer the average reader easily digestible information on political, socio-economic, technological and ideological context within which the movies were produced.
Dandaura, who ascribed the beauty of the book to the invaluable insight it offers the reader into the social and political history of Nigeria also called for a comprehensive mapping of the Nollywood industry to establish its composition, character, size and net contributions to the Nigerian economy.
Caleb Nor
Corporate Affairs Unit
NICO, Abuja