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Dar 2 Lagos

NOLLYWOOD IN TANZANIA

5

Nol ly w o od f i l m s h av e left the narrow confines of domestic con-
sumption in their country of origin and are currently watched by diverse
audiences throughout many parts of Africa (Krings and Okome 2013a).
W hen I first went to Dar es Salaam on a short reconnaissance trip in March
2006, I was fascinated by the enormous presence of Nigerian video films in
this East African city. They were sold on cassettes and discs in shops and
by street vendors, rented out in video rental stores, broadcast on several
tv stations, and advertised at the doorways to video parlors. Given the
fact that many Tanzanians do not speak English and must have had dif-
ficulty following the dialogue, I thought of returning a year later to ascer-
tain what Tanzanian spectators were gleaning from Nigerian video films.
W hen I returned in August 2007, however, the demand for Nigerian films
had declined dramatically, to the extent that they were almost nonexistent
in the shops and video parlors. Meanwhile, local video film production
had tripled its output. As they had the advantage of being produced in
Swahili, these films quickly took a leading position in the market for “Af-
rican films,” which had hitherto been dominated by Nigerian video films.
Suddenly finding myself dealing with what seemed a historical phenom-
enon a nd hav i ng d i ffic u lt y d isc ussi ng fi l ms t hat had lost t hei r aud iences, I
became interested in the short history of Nigerian video film in Tanzania