Access Nollywood

Nigeria has a vibrant pop music scene. It is also a country where many share both an Evangelical Christian faith and a lingering fear of witchcraft. If you think such an environment could produce fascinating cinema you would be correct. Nigerian can boast of some dynamic films and filmmakers, which sometimes shines through in Ben Addelman and Samir Mallal’s documentary Nollywood Babylon (trailer here), now playing at the Museum of Modern Art.

The Nigerian movie business, affectionately known as Nollywood, currently ranks third in global film production right behind Hollywood and Bollywood—and its growing rapidly. Yet hardly any of its films ever screen in proper movie theaters. Their distribution is dominated by the Lagos street markets, where fans eagerly purchase new DVDs for home viewing. Operating within this milieu, Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen emerges as Babylon’s likable protagonist and guide to the world of hyper-kinetic Nollywood filmmaking.

Part auteur and part entrepreneur, Imasuen is a charismatic representative of Nollywood. He is also a practicing Christian, who we see leading his cast and crew through the opening prayer on the set of his 157th film during Babylon’s early scenes. As long as Addelman and Mallal have their camera pointed at him, the film is on solid ground. Unfortunately, when their focus strays to other aspects of the Nollywood scene, Babylon often seems to invite viewers to laugh at, rather than with, its subjects. Many clips seem to be cherry-picked for their ultra-cheesy effects, particularly those produced by "born-again" Christian filmmakers, who have captured significant market-share in Nollywood.

The problem with Babylon is it is unclear whether the documentarians are celebrating the resourcefulness of Nollywood filmmakers, or mocking them for either their Christianity or traditional superstitions (as when one filmmaker explains how witchcraft shut-down his location shoot in an area associated with the supernatural). At least they gave Babylon a high-energy soundtrack, featuring some cool contemporary Nigerian afro-pop that nicely compliments the “sharp-sharp let’s go-let’s go” Nollywood aesthetic.

Based on the high-end Nollywood films which have reached the American festival circuit, it seems like they are producing highly watchable pictures, particularly because of their unusual blend of Christian and supernatural elements. Filmmakers like Imasuen deserve a lot of credit for developing an audience and making money with their films, which is more than most documentarians can say. Babylon is at its best when it takes the audience into the intriguing world of Nollywood, but their impulse to emphasize the cruder aspects of films typically produced for less than $10,000 ultimately does not serve the documentary well. It runs through Thursday (7/9) at MoMA.

NYADFF: Changing Faces

Though thought of as an Islamic country, studies estimate roughly forty percent of Nigeria’s population is Christian, so a Nigerian film with Christian themes is not such a contradiction in terms. Screening this afternoon at the New York African Diaspora Film Festival, Faruk Lasaki’s Changing Faces suggests personal angels and demons are not simply metaphorical, but wield a tangible influence on mortals which we cannot comprehend.

Marriage means little to Lola, the hedonistic journalist. Unmarried herself, she refuses to let a mere trifle like a wedding ring deter her from a promising sexual encounter. However, the devoutly Christian Dale Svenson takes marriage very seriously. He is even prim and proper with his own wife. Assigned to cover the painfully dull architectural conference he will address, the uptight Svenson catches her eye. Over the course of a week, Lola plays an elaborate game of sexual cat and mouse with her prey. Eventually, it indeed turns out that whatever Lola wants, Lola gets.

However, this time conquest comes with a price, both for Lola and Svenson. Faces posits a world in which sex not only occurs on a physical level, but on a spiritual level, involving the spirits people carry with them. By some fluke, Lola and Svenson swap their moral compasses during their night of passion. Now recklessly lecherous, Svenson recognizes something happened to him that night, which threatens to derail his marriage and career. On the wagon and living with integrity, Lola by contrast welcomes her new square life.

While Svenson resorts to a witch doctor’s services in a moment of desperation, Faces ultimately links salvation and faith. Lasaki’s debut narrative film, written by Yinka Ogun, is surprisingly overt in its Christian orientation. It is a morality tale in which morality matters. It suggests a life of rectitude is preferable to the ostensive pleasure of sin. However, like Christian films produced domestically, the production values are spotty and the acting is sometimes suspect. British actress Rachel Young fares the best as Lola, the former temptress. Unfortunately, as Svenson, her fellow countrymen, Marc Baylis comes across like an actor in a Christian film.

Still, in many ways Faces is an intriguing film. His scenes involving the unseen “angels” are particularly clever in their staging and Emmanuel Fagbure has a real screen presence as Lola’s leering supernatural companion. It also serves as an interesting reflection of contemporary Nigeria, in that the inter-racial relationships never raise eyebrows—at least for that specific reason. Though undercut by a weak lead, Faces suggests Lasaki might have some fascinating films in his future. It screens today at the Cowin Center and Monday at the Anthology Film Archives, as part of the NYADFF.