African videoscapes: Southern Nigeria, Ethiopia and Côte d’Ivoire in comparative perspective

With the introduction of analogue and (later) digital technologies, many sub-Saharan African countries have witnessed the emergence and rapid growth of commercial video film industries. The Nigerian industry, Nollywood, is the case studies that raised most scholarly interest, generating the formulation of an analytical model which has often influenced our understanding of other instances of video film production around the continent. This chapter proposes a comparative analysis of the history of video filmmaking in three sub-Saharan African countries (Nigeria, Ethiopia and Côte d’Ivoire) in order to complicate our understanding of African video film beyond the Nollywood model. Drawing from ethnographic materials collected during fieldwork conducted in each of these countries, this chapter offers an original contribution to the existing debate on the impact of analogue and digital technologies on the transformation of African cinema which highlight the impact of specific local political, economic, and infrastructural contexts on the development of video film industries around the continent.