Pieter Hugo's NOLLYWOOD
Nollywood is said to be the third largest film industry in the world, releasing onto the home video market approximately 1,000 movies each year.
Such abundance is possible since films are realized in conditions that would make most of the western independent directors cringe. Movies are produced and marketed in the space of a week: low cost equipment, very basic scripts, actors cast the day of the shooting, “real life” locations. Despite the improvised production process, they continue to fascinate audiences.
The movies tell stories that appeal to and reflect the lives of its public: stars are local actors; plots confront the viewer with familiar situations of romance, comedy, witchcraft, bribery, prostitution. The narrative is overdramatic, deprived of happy endings and often tragic. The aesthetic is loud, violent, excessive; nothing is said, everything is shouted.
In his travels through West Africa, Hugo has been intrigued by this distinct style in constructing a fictional world where everyday and unreal elements intertwine. His vision of the film industry’s interpretation of the world results in a gallery of hallucinatory and unsettling images.
[via Pieter Hugo]
* Big thanks to my friend Stephanie for the tip on this series. Check out her wonderful photographs folks! Click ==> here
Check out another great series on the Hyena Men photographed by Hugo here
Nollywood is said to be the third largest film industry in the world, releasing onto the home video market approximately 1,000 movies each year.
Such abundance is possible since films are realized in conditions that would make most of the western independent directors cringe. Movies are produced and marketed in the space of a week: low cost equipment, very basic scripts, actors cast the day of the shooting, “real life” locations. Despite the improvised production process, they continue to fascinate audiences.
The movies tell stories that appeal to and reflect the lives of its public: stars are local actors; plots confront the viewer with familiar situations of romance, comedy, witchcraft, bribery, prostitution. The narrative is overdramatic, deprived of happy endings and often tragic. The aesthetic is loud, violent, excessive; nothing is said, everything is shouted.
In his travels through West Africa, Hugo has been intrigued by this distinct style in constructing a fictional world where everyday and unreal elements intertwine. His vision of the film industry’s interpretation of the world results in a gallery of hallucinatory and unsettling images.
[via Pieter Hugo]
* Big thanks to my friend Stephanie for the tip on this series. Check out her wonderful photographs folks! Click ==> here
Check out another great series on the Hyena Men photographed by Hugo here
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