This paper is an exploratory study of the Nigerian film industry popularly called Nollywood. It evaluates the humble beginnings of the industry to its meteoric rise which is attributed to audience responses to the films and facilitated by the adoption of new communication technologies. The paper goes on to evaluate the relationship and potential influence of Nollywood on Nigerian indigenous culture in the era of globalization and observes that the influence is both positive and negative. The paper suggests that in the globalized world of today, Nollywood should serve as a vehicle for local cultural transfer as well as a means of indigenous cultural development. This, the paper concludes, should be done through the creative portrayal and juxtaposition of both local and global cultural norms in the themes of Nollywood films.

KEY WORDS: Indigenous Culture, New Communication Technologies, Cultural Transfer, Cultural Development, Globalization, Nollywood.