Kenya’s Riverwood: Market structure, power relations, and future outlooks

This article analyses the economic structure, market dynamics and power relations in Kenya’s Riverwood movie circuit. Similarities and differences with better-known African popular cinema industries are highlighted and tentatively explained. The article pays attention to historical background, context factors, individual agency and questions of justice and fairness in the circuit. Riverwood may at first glance appear to be just another example of the African popular cinema genre, but on closer inspection shows as many dissimilarities as similarities with, for instance, Nollywood and Bongowood.