Cover -- Title page -- Copyright page -- Dedication -- FOREWORD -- PREFACE & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- CONTENTS -- INTRODUCTION. Philosophy, (Neo-) Nollywood and the African Predicament -- Background and motif -- Modernity and the imperative of vision -- Philosophy at Nollywood -- Nollywood as paradigmatic practice -- Neo-Nollywood as exemplary practice -- Why The Figurine? The Nigerian filmmaker as auteur -- Prefiguring The Figurine -- Notes -- References -- Part I - ARAROMIRE IN NOLLYWOOD -- 1. The Figurine: The Interplay of the Mysterious, the Orchestrated and the Coincidental -- Introduction -- Kunle Afolayan and the Nollywood scenario -- The mysterious, the orchestrated and the coincidental: Fathoming the aesthetics of suspense in The Figurine -- Conclusion -- References -- 2. The Figurine and the "Torn" Individual -- Background -- The problem -- Nollywood in perspective -- Nollywood's misrepresentation of Yoruba tradition -- Nollywood's islands of hope -- Of modernity and tradition -- The Yoruba world view -- Figuring out The Figurine -- Mental map and reality -- Causality and the African mode of thought -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 3. Striving with the Gods: The Figurine and the Double-Bind of Realism and the Supernatural -- Introduction -- The magical and the empirical -- Conclusion -- References -- 4. Animist Order and the Ghost of Modernity in Kunle Afolayan's The Figurine -- Introduction -- Conclusion -- Note -- References -- 5. Araromire's Cross: A Human Dilemma -- Introduction -- A further elaboration on Araromire -- Drawing on analogy -- Conclusion -- References -- 6. Local Going Global: Comparing the International Narrative Appeal of Araromire (The Figurine) and Love in the Time of Cholera -- Films -- Books -- 7. Alter/Native Film Narratives in Nollywood and The Figurine -- Introduction -- Alter/Natives film narratives.

The mask code in African cinema -- Techniques and motif -- On postmodernism and The Figurine -- Conclusion -- Note -- References -- 8. Nigerian Video Film and the Conundrum of Language: Observatory Notes on Kunle Afolayan's Araromire and Irapada -- Introduction -- Language and Nigerian literary arts -- A Filmmaker's experiment with language in Araromire and Irapada -- Concluding remarks -- Filmography -- References -- Part II - NOLLYWOOD AND BEYOND -- 9. The Home Video Industry and Nigeria's Cultural Development -- The background -- The traditional theatre films and videos -- The mass society and the mass media -- The Nigerian film versus the Nigerian home video -- Conclusion: Home video and television as precursors of the new media -- References -- 10. Audio-Visual Griots: On the Historiography of the Indigenous Yoruba Video Film in Nigeria -- Introduction: The Nigerian video film -- the Nigerian video film and its antecedents -- Historiophory and Nigerian video films -- Yoruba videos and politics -- Conclusion -- References -- 11. The Crippled Cinema of a Crippled Nation? Preliminary Notes on Nollywood and the Nigerian State -- Introduction: Nigeria @ 50 -- The repression of the state -- National cinema, national ambitions -- Interrogating Nollywood -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Filmography -- Bibliography -- 12. Nollywood and the Discursive Mediation of Identity, Nationhood and Social Anxiety -- Introduction -- Conclusion -- References -- 13. Towards a Morality of the African Film -- Introduction -- Why only the film director? -- What is morality? -- What morality? -- Film as a work of art -- What type of a film? -- Conclusion -- References -- 14. Nollywood: How Far? How Much Further -- The evolution of Nollywood -- The content of the Nollywood film -- Marketing the Nollywood film -- The Nollywood audience -- Wither Nollywood? -- Notes -- References.

Part III - INTERVIEWS -- Of The Figurine, "Neo Nollywood" and the Politics of Film Festivals in Africa -- The Story, the Script and the Movie -- Cinematography Within Limitations -- Set Design Beyond Nollywood -- The Excitement of a Story -- AFTERWORD - Neo-Nollywood and Its Other -- NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS -- INDEX -- Back cover.