Cameroonian cinema, a history in the making
Cinema may have made inroads into Cameroon before 1919, but it wasn't until then that the first film in the history of the country, then under French colonial rule, was shot. It was a short documentary entitled Haut-Commissariat de la République française au Cameroun (High Commission of the French Republic in Cameroon), with a more anthropological bent and less artistic interest. It wasn't until the 1960s that local artists took the camera in hand and shot the first Cameroonian films. A history of national cinema that began in France, where director Jean-Paul Ngassa shot Aventure en France, a short film depicting the situation of Cameroonian students in the metropolis. The following year, journalist and director Thérèse Sita-Bella made Tam-tam à Paris, becoming one of Africa's first female filmmakers. The film, which followed Cameroon's national dance company to Paris, helped place Cameroonian cinema on the international French-speaking scene. However, it wasn't until 1966 that Dia Moukouri shot her first feature film on home soil, Point de Vue N°1.
In the years that followed, Cameroonian cinema was represented by three leading directors: Jean-Pierre Dikongué Pipa, Daniel Kamwa, and Jean-Paul Ngassa, who returned to the country in the late 1960s. Born in 1940, Dikongué Pipa is a playwright and filmmaker, contributing to Cameroon's international renown with films such as Muna Moto (1975) and Le Prix de la Liberté (1978). Muna Moto oscillates between past and present to tell the touching story of a couple's impossible marriage. A powerful film that even made it into the Venice Film Festival selection, after winning several international awards. Daniel Kamwa made his first film, Boubou-cravate , in 1973. Born in 1943, he has shot and produced a number of acclaimed feature films, including Turbulences (2015). This animated film, co-produced with South Africa, uses the mechanics of storytelling to tell a tale of clandestine emigration.
Between 1990 and 2000, a younger generation of filmmakers took up the torch from the fathers of Cameroonian cinema. At this time, the art form was being showcased not only on international screens, but also on television and digital channels, which were far more present in Cameroon than cinema itself, which had been completely wiped out by taxes on cinemas and the power of television.
Quartier Mozart (1992), the first film by multi-talented filmmaker Jean-Pierre Bekolo, stands out from this period. Bekolo went on to produce science fiction films(Les Saignantes, 2005), documentaries, series and films with varied themes, often irreverent and critical of Cameroon's ruling powers. In fact, his film Le Président (2013) was banned from screening in Cameroon, as the local authorities deemed it too political. Censorship is unfortunately still rife in Cameroon today.
Closer to home, director Joséphine Ndagnou shot Paris à tout prix in 2008, and managed to draw crowds to the country's last cinemas. But this was only a jolt before a sudden halt in 2009: the last three cinemas in Cameroon closed their doors, leaving filmmakers with no screens - apart from those of international institutions - on which to show their work to audiences. It wasn't until 2017 that cinema screens made a comeback in Cameroon, led by the Vivendi group and their CanalOlympia channel. But fortunately, it's not the lack of screens that is preventing filmmakers from producing captivating films, particularly in the field of animation. After Daniel Kamwa's Turbulences, the first animated feature entirely made in Cameroon was released in 2017 under the title Minga et la cuillère cassée. A film by Claye Edou, who has become one of the country's most influential producer-directors. He also produced Kankan en 2022, a biopic by director Joseph Akama focusing on the life of Dieudonné Afana and Jean Miché Kankan, one of the great African comedians of the twentieth century. Just recently, filmmakers Daniel Minlo and Cyrille Masso came to the prestigious Annecy Festival to present their animated feature La Grotte Sacrée, selected in the Contrechamp competition. Proof that Cameroonian cinema has a bright future ahead of it, provided that public authorities and international producers take an interest in this breeding ground of up-and-coming filmmakers.
Some films shot in Cameroon
In 1988, Claire Denis shot her first feature film, Chocolat, in Cameroon. In it, she recounts her childhood memories through the character of France. An intimate tale between past and present, by a director who was to become one of the great figures of French cinema. But beyond this film shoot, it has to be said that Cameroon and its underdeveloped film industry have not attracted many filmmakers. In fact, it was in the 1980s that a few notable films were shot on Cameroonian soil, most notably Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, starring Christophe Lambert as the lord of the jungle. A rather crisp, vintage adaptation. Christophe Lambert went on to enjoy a prolific career, appearing two years later in the cult Highlander alongside Sean Connery. A classic still as impressive today.
See movies in Cameroon
Since the opening of CanalOlympia in Douala and Yaoundé in 2016 and 2017, cinema has once again become part of Cameroonian life. In 2021, the Genesis Cinema, another complex from a chain of international exhibitors, also opened in Douala, giving spectators the chance to discover the latest blockbusters in ideal conditions. Last but not least, the Institut Français cinema is still in operation, screening art house films for fans of culture and the seventh art.
