Cameroon

  • Rosine Mfetgo Mbakam – Les prières de Delphine AKA Delphine’s Prayers (2021)

    2021-2030African CinemaCameroonDocumentaryRosine Mfetgo Mbakam

    Through interviews as intimate as they are disconcerting, we meet Delphine, a Cameroonian immigrant residing in Belgium who narrates her life for the camera of Rosine Mbakam, also originally from Cameroon. As in her previous feature film “At Jolie Coiffure” (awarded at Olhar ’19), concise elements become a cinematographic force based on the encounter between black women all at once close and distant. The protagonist’s confessional tone reveals her self-awareness as the conductor of her own story, dealing with patriarchal and colonial scars and striving to assert her own voice.Read More »

  • Jean-Marie Téno – Clando (1996)

    1991-2000CameroonDramaJean-Marie Téno

    Proud and determined, the hunter set out, leaving behind his village ravaged by a terrible drought. All the villagers came out to wish him well, and everyone gave what he could: an egg, a handful of peanuts or a few kola nuts… As in the folktale, Sobgui, a former computer programmer who now drives a “clando” cab in Douala, flees to Europe to escape a life in Cameroon which has become unbearable. In Cologne (Germany), Sobgui joins a community of African emigrants. Most are hard-working and ambitious people. Sobgui begins a love affair with Madeleine, a German political activist who encourages Sobgui and his friends to return home and fight for change.
    – Written by JM Teno.usRead More »

  • Jean-Pierre Dikongue-Pipa – Muna Moto (1975)

    1971-1980African CinemaCameroonDramaJean-Pierre Dikongue-Pipa

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    Quote:
    Ngando and Ndomé share an extremely perfect love. Yet, tradition demands a dowry for Ndomé’s hand that Ngando, an orphan, cannot afford. Forced to ask his uncle for assistance, Ngando finds himself at the mercy of his uncle’s lust and greed.

    Muna Moto AKA The Child of Another (1975) is Cameroon’s first feature-length film. It is a classical story of doomed loved told in an African context. It is directed by Jean-Pierre Dikongue Pipa and features gorgeous black-and-white cinematography.
    It won the 1975 FESPACO prize for best African film and was featured in Sight & Sound’s “75 Hidden Gems: The Great Films Time Forgot” in which 75 critics were asked to pick one film each that they considered “unduly obscure and worthy of greater eminence.
    Mostra of Venice: official selection(1975).Read More »

  • Florence Ayisi & Kim Longinotto – Sisters in Law (2005)

    2001-2010African CinemaCameroonDocumentaryFlorence Ayisi and Kim Longinotto

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    Two legal crusaders from Kumba, Cameroon, determined to see that justice is served and make a difference from within the system, are the focus of this documentary from filmmakers Kim Longinotto and Florence Ayisi. Vera Ngassa is a prosecutor unafraid to take on unpopular causes, and Beatrice Ntuba is a judge who doesn’t hide her outrage when a case rubs her the wrong way. Unlike many legal workers, Ngassa and Ntuba vow to actively include themselves in the lives of those who seek justice. From the caring consideration shown to a young girl who has obviously suffered abuse at the hands of her parents to the noble support shown to a battered Muslim woman brave enough to take her husband to court for spousal abuse, the support shown by Ntuba and Ngassa to their clients is unparalleled, and offers a ray of hope to those who may feel that all is lost.Read More »

  • Jean-Marie Teno – Afrique, je te plumerai AKA Africa, I Will Fleece You (1993)

    1991-2000CameroonDocumentaryJean-Marie TénoPolitics

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    Storyline
    This documentary of repressive political realities in Cameroon begins with the 1990 publication of an open letter to President Biya calling for a national conference – and the immediate arrest of the letter’s author and publisher. The narration then examines the nation’s colonial history, beginning with the first German missionary in 1901, the establishment of schools, French occupation following World War I, the paucity of books written by and published by Cameroonians, and the repression of the CPU, a leftist organization of the 1950s and 1960s. Cameroon and its people are the lark, its feathers plucked first by colonialism and then by native strongmen: ‘Alouette, je te plumerai.’ Written by jhaileyRead More »

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