dar 2 lagos 167was once married to a Nigerian woman with whom he had two daughters,
he suspects his son Raymond is staying with his half-sisters, in Surulere,
Lagos. Kanumba arrives in Lagos just in time to prevent Raymond and
his half-sister Misoji (Mercy Johnson) from committing incest. They had
been unaware of their blood relationship, as the sisters had changed their
names on their arrival in Nigeria (from Tanzania, where they were born).
Kanumba then becomes the object of the other (elder) sister’s desire
(Bimbo Akintola). She happens to be the managing director of the hotel
he is staying in, but he must rebuff her advances because of his commit-
ment to another Nigerian girl (Nancy Okeke). Finally, Kanumba is able
to accomplish his task and takes Raymond back to his waiting father in
Tanzania.
Unlike productions that merely mimic Nigerian video film style and
participate indirectly in the fame of Nolly wood, Mtitu Game’s video di-
rectly conveys the “aura” of Nolly wood. This was the first Tanzanian film
actually shot in Nigeria, with real Nolly wood actors and a Nigerian direc-
tor (Femi Ogedegbe). For Mtitu Game, who strived hard to realize the
film, this exemplary coming together of the two national video industries
had a deeper symbolic meaning—it demonstrated that the much younger
Tanzanian industry was now on more equal footing with established Ni-
gerian filmmaking. This equalization is addressed on the dvd/vcd cover
in a number of ways: the title and subtitle, Dar 2 Lagos: 4 Re-union, not
only refer to the story of the film but also allude to its symbolic nature.
Behind the letters in the title, two shaking hands are visible, each with a
wristlet in the national colors of one of the two nations involved. Behind
the images of the leading actors (each of which have captions indicating
the actor’s name and country of origin), parts of a Nigerian and a Tanza-
nian map can be seen, merging together as if to overcome the real distance
between the two countries and industries (see figure 5.3).
A mixture of self-referentiality and self-advertisement is apparent in the
film itself. It starts with a scene in a video shop in Dar es Salaam, which
serves to establish the noble personality of Kanumba (who is selling video
films on the street before Mr. Maganga picks him up) but also to promote
other films by Game 1st Quality, and to demonstrate that Tanzanian and
Nigerian video films have equal production values. Kanumba asks the
shopkeeper for Nigerian and Tanzanian videos. Among the Tanzanian