170 african appropriations
Mtitu Game became an official member of the Producers Guild of Ni-
geria and registered a branch of his company as Game 1st Quality Nige-
ria Ltd. in Nigeria. He hoped to distribute Dar 2 Lagos, whose Swahili
dialogue were subtitled in English, on the Nigerian market. For patriotic
reasons, he also hoped to spread some knowledge about Tanzania and
its national language, Swahili, to Nigerian audiences and—since Nigeria
exports video films far beyond its borders—to audiences in almost every
corner of the continent.
AN AMBIVALENT RELATIONSHIPWhen Nollywood movies arrived in Tanzania around the turn of the
twenty-first century, popular audiences enjoyed them for their mise-en-
scène of an African modernity, which somehow paralleled their own life-
world and were yet different enough to allow for both an identification
and a fascination prompted by alterity. They praised the welcome change
Nigerian films brought to the cinematographic menu offered in Tanzanian
video parlors of the era, which at the time consisted mainly of American,
Indian, and Chinese genre films. First and foremost, Nolly wood movies
were valued as African films. Cultural elites, however, were more criti-
cal of them. As elsewhere across the continent, Nolly wood videos were
criticized for their preoccupation with the occult and their manifold ex-
plorations into the realm of the “powers of darkness” (Krings and Okome
2 013b: 9 –1 4). I n Ta n z a n ia, ca ses of r it ua l mu rder t hat occ u r red a rou nd t he
year 2000 nourished the interest of popular audiences in Nolly wood films,
which seemed to offer explanations for such incidents. In neighboring
Kenya, the films have even been held accountable for a perceived increase
in witchcraft beliefs (Ondego 2005).
Cultural production in Tanzania, notably the Bongo movie industry,
mirrors these ambivalent feelings toward Nolly wood videos. Claudia
Böhme (2013: 328–329), who did extensive research on the Bongo movie
industry during its formative years (2006–2010), explains that when
Nolly wood films arrived in Tanzania, they functioned as an “initial
spark,” encouraging young cultural entrepreneurs to try making mov-
ies of their own. As the Bongo movie industry grew, however, the rela-