Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses recent Nigerian films that are remakes or sequels of "Old" Nollywood movies from the video era, considering the role of digital technologies in their production/circulation as well as audiences' reception, which contributes to the formation of a shared collective film culture.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper I focus on the recent tendency of "New" Nollywood industry producing several films that are remakes or sequels of "Old" Nollywood movies from the video era. The work hypothesis is that Nigerian film is a phase in which cultural production meets archiving, innovation meets preservation. Taking movies like Living in Bondage. Breaking Free (Ramsey Nouah, 2019), Rattlesnake: The Ahanna Story (Ramsey Nouha, 2020), Nneka the Pretty Serpent (Zeb Ejiro, Tosin Igho 2020) as a case study, this paper provides an insight into how digital transformation facilitates the transition from a production-based economy to a copyright-based economy. I intend to analyze this phenomenon taking into consideration two dimensions: on one hand the economic dimension of production and circulation of the sequel/remakes and their antecedents, on the other the dimension of collective memory, i.e. how audiences relate to Nigerian archival films and contribute to the canonization of Old Nollywood and the reappropriation of their own film culture. The paper will then pose the question if and to what extent digital transformations (and in particular digital platforms like Netflix, YouTube, and Irokotv) are producing decolonial and/or neocolonial spaces in the production and distribution of film culture.