As the wind blows, we see the anus of a chicken.

January 19, 2004 4:44 AM

Hollywood? Old. Bollywood? That's soooo 2003. Make room for Nollywood, Nigeria's own film industry which is growing by leaps and bounds every year, and is currently worth about $45 million dollars. About 400 Nollywood films are produced every year many on a budget of around $15000 and are distributed almost entirely by VHS and VCD. The stories are very much simplistic and pulpy (check out 419 Stalk Exchange. Yes, 419 as in the email scam) but are much preferred by local residents and emigre's than the usual arthouse fair one often thinks of when talking about African cinema. Now if you'll excuse me there's a bucket of popcorn and a copy of GSM Connection waiting for me in the living room.
posted by PenDevil (13 comments total)

I love the blurb for GSM Connection at the africamovies site: As the wind blows, we see the anus of a chicken. They look innocent, suave and debonnaire, but they are the most dangerous men of the underworld...
posted by misteraitch at 4:57 AM on January 19, 2004

The Washington Post ran a similar story in November. Titles can be browsed at New York-based AfricanMovies.com.
posted by hairyeyeball at 5:28 AM on January 19, 2004

Oops, I didn't see you'd already used the chicken blurb in the thread title, PenDevil. Hope the anus didn't put you off your popcorn!
posted by misteraitch at 6:44 AM on January 19, 2004

Fascinating, thanks.
posted by muckster at 7:51 AM on January 19, 2004

chickens don't have anuses.
posted by dgaicun at 8:09 AM on January 19, 2004

. . . I'm just sayin'.
posted by dgaicun at 8:13 AM on January 19, 2004

dgaicum: for real?
posted by xmutex at 8:29 AM on January 19, 2004

I want to see some african cinema which has non-linear story telling. Maybe I should AxMe...

This chicken has an anus!
posted by asok at 8:53 AM on January 19, 2004

Chefs make poor anatomists. That BBC link is incorrect:

Digestion in fowl (chickens, turkeys, ducks, etc.) . . . fowl do not have an anus. They possess an opening called the vent. Just prior to the vent is the cloaca. It is here at the cloaca that the digestive, urinary, and reproductive systems meet. Uric acid is mixed with feces and passed out of the vent. Eggs from the reproductive system also pass through the vent.

posted by dgaicun at 10:42 AM on January 19, 2004

Eggs from the reproductive system also pass through the vent.

That's why my pal Mike won't eat eggs -- can't even stand the smell. He had to go get them from the henhouse when he was a kid, and he says "If you saw what they're like when they come out of the hen, you wouldn't eat 'em either."

I want to see some african cinema which has non-linear story telling.

I recommend Yeelen in the strongest possible terms. (It opens with a chicken being burned at the stake, but if you've made it this far in the thread, I think you can take that.) It's set in the world of Malian mythology, and has something to do with a young Mande man trying to escape his father's wrath with the help of magic and his Fulani wife, but plot isn't exactly the selling point. Gorgeous images, inexplicable but mesmerizing sequences. Rent it.
posted by languagehat at 4:55 PM on January 19, 2004

somewhat off-topic: has anyone seen a West African film which was the story of Exodus, set in Africa? It was amazing, but I can't for the life of me remember the title. (No luck in a previous AskMe thread, alas.)
posted by Vidiot at 5:14 PM on January 19, 2004

Interesting article, thanks.

Somewhat off-topic again :- Kirikou and the Sorceress is a wonderful animation.
posted by plep at 12:09 AM on January 20, 2004

Thanks languagehat and plep, I will check them out.

dgaicun - I stand corrected. I suppose there's no chance of me winning an oscar with my 7-assed chicken this year. Back to the drawing board.
posted by asok at 3:19 AM on January 20, 2004