African Film Archive

Living in Bondage

1992 — Chris Obi Rapu — Nigeria

feature · drama, thriller · video-wave

Shot on VHS camcorder and released direct to video in two parts across 1992 and 1993, this Igbo-language drama about a man who sacrifices his wife for ritual wealth became Nollywood's first blockbuster, reportedly selling hundreds of thousands of copies, with some accounts citing over a million.

Fun fact: The film was written and produced by Kenneth Nnebue, a businessman who had been importing blank VHS tapes from Taiwan and needed content to sell them, inadvertently launching an entire industry.

Notes: Credited direction is disputed in places; Wikipedia and most academic sources credit Chris Obi Rapu as director with Nnebue and Okechukwu Ogunjiofor as writers/producers. Year is sometimes listed as 1992, sometimes 1992/1993 for the two-part release.

Verification: verified · Sources: [1] [2] [3]

Poster source: Wikipedia