152 african appropriations
In 2007, Nigerian videos were rarely sold as single copies but as collec-
tions of up to eight films on a single dvd (at a price of 4,500 shillings or
3.85 U.S. dollars—the same price as a genuine copy of a single Nolly wood
film in Game’s shop). These collections carry hyperbolic names, such as
Nigerian Box Office, Nollywood Bestseller, The Best Nigerian Movie Collec-
tion, or simply Africa Movie Collection. Given the delicate nature of this
business, relying as it did on pirated material, I was unable to find out by
whom and where these dvds were produced, despite the fact that they
had allegedly been pouring into the market since 2006. Some suspected
dubious Chinese or Indian businessmen, who also provided the machinga
(street vendors) with a constant supply of pirated Holly wood and Hong
Kong movies. Others suspected Tanzanians with international business
contacts in Singapore or China, where these dvds were believed to be
produced. W hoever fabricated them certainly were industrious and also
had a fine sense of humor: all the covers carry the logos typical of genu-
ine dvds, such as the “Dolby” and “dts Digital Surround” labels (which,
given the sound quality of both the pirated copies and the originals, is
frankly laughable); the back covers usually announce subtitles in “1. Eng-
lish, 2. Chinese, 3. Bahasa, 4. Portuguese,” and have a warning against
piracy: “Criminal copy right infringements is investigated by the fbi and
may constitute a felony with a maximum penalty of upfive [sic] in prison
and/or a $250,000 fine.” A lso, whoever produced these dvds had some
expertise in Nolly wood films; some movie collections are not randomly
organized but compiled by either genre or actor. Other collections are
devoted to movies dealing with the occult and romance (The Best Oc-
caultic [sic] Movies, Nigerian Love Collection); one dvd even juxtaposes
two genres: Epic vs. Comedy.
Nigerian video films were broadcast by two private television
stat ions—it v (Su nday s at 1 2:30, 21:15) a nd Sta r t v (Sat u rday s at 22:30, a nd
Sundays at 14:00). On both channels, Pepsi-Cola sponsored the respective
program slots, meaning that there were several interruptions to advertise
the soft drink. State broadcaster tvt also aired Nigerian films for about
four months in 2005 (cut up into 30-minute weekly segments) but decided
to stop after receiving too many complaints from viewers about the heav y
dosage of Pentecostal content in the films. As a national television sta-
tion, tvt was obviously expected not to show an inclination toward any