Cameroon Echoes {Echos Camerounais}

Image of Change: Cameroon and Cinematography

Can Winnie Mandela's heroism outshine her crimes?

The Real Winnie Mandela Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in typical form She was known to many as the Mother of the Nation, but Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the once celebrated heroine of the anti-apartheid struggle, is no stranger to controversy. Now it seems that film-makers on both sides of the Atlantic have seen the dramatic potential. Jennifer Hudson has been lined up to play the lead role in a Hollywood film of the revolutionary firebrand's life, and the BBC has filmed its own drama, Mrs Mandela, with Sophie Okonedo in the lead role. But which Winnie Madikizela-Mandela will we see? The central drama in Winnie's life is whether her heroism can outshine her crimes. Among South Africans today, this is still a deeply divisive issue. To understand why, you need to understand the full story of Winnie's journey from young social worker to fearless leader of the struggle.

Africa Paradise: A Movie that puts Europe in Africa's shoes and Africa in Europe's

Europe, among them France, has become underdeveloped due to acute economic and political crisis while Africa has gone through very thriving development. 

As Olivier and Pauline, a French engineer and a French teacher, can no more decently live in their country, they decide to immigrate into the United States of Africa. Unfortunately they don’t manage to get an entry visa and therefore call on a smuggler. From that time on their life turns upside down and they face the grim reality of immigration : they experience the position of illegal immigrant, the difficulty to find a decent job and on top of that the political use of immigration."

Echo Lens Focus: Jean Pierre Bekolo's "Quartier Mozart" and "les saignantes"

http://quartiermozart.blogspot.com/

One of the most delightfully unexpected African films in decades, Quartier Mozart was awarded the Prix Afrique en Creation at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival and has enchanted film festival audiences from New York to New Dehli. Told over a 48-hour period in a working class neighborhood in Yaounde, Jean-Pierre Bekolo's film is the story of the not-very-sentimental education of a young schoolgirl known as Queen of the 'Hood. Maman Thekla, the local sorceress, helps her enter the body of a young man, My Guy, so she can discover for herself the real "sexual politics" of the quarter. Meanwhile, Maman Thekla herself assumes the shape of Panka, a familiar comic figure in Cameroonian folklore who can cause a man's penis to disappear with a simple handshake.

Echo Lens Focus: Cameroonian Film "Sango Malo"

Sango Malo offers viewers an intimate and engaging portrait of the complex social dynamic underlying economic and political change in a typical African village. It argues passionately that a populist education must be a key component of any democratic, human-centered development paradigm for Africa. Bassek ba Kobhio explains why his first feature focuses on education: "It is education which can form a new people...It is hard to think about changing African society without envisioning an appropriate form of education."

Echo Lens Focus: Mr Jean Marie Teno, Pioneering Cameroonian Cinema

www.jmteno.us/ Renown Cameroonian Filmmaker, Mr Jean Marie Teno captured this real live incident of vigilante injustice in Cameroon in his 1999 documentary film. In the film, the producer would document the troubling events which he witnessed in his village. One of them being a young boy who was nearly lynched by a mob depicting the people's justice in a lawless state. He also delves into the tradition that ordains men as ultimate rulers of the family while attending a wedding and discuses the fate of a journalist imprisoned without a trial for writing an article about the health of the president.

"Shuga" MTV Staying Alive Drama Series Episode 1

Shuga Episode 1 from mtv staying alive on Vimeo.

Another chance to catch Shuga, an MTV Staying Alive drama set in Nairobi, Kenya. In Episode 1 Ayira has hopes of the high life, meanwhile the fast boys flex their masculinity and Virginia plays hard to get.

AN EMERGING CAMEROONIAN FILM INDUSTRY

In high school, I happened to be good friends with two amazing actors who went on to Julliard and Tisch acting schools, respectively, in New York. Working for a writer in New York, I spent two summers with them and their friends, meeting some of the most promising young singers, actors and dancers in the city. Zigoto Tchaya Tchameni, a prolific all around entertainer and artist that I became close friends with this month in Yaounde, Cameroon, is easily as talented as any of the performers I met in New York. However, being born in Cameroon instead of America, Zigoto got the short end of resources and support when it comes to the arts and entertainment. To me, this juxtaposition embodies the challenges that young African entrepreneurs with great talents and ideas face.

Zigoto Tchaya Tchameni

Cameroon’s Sleepy Film Industry Waking Up

By Ntaryike Divine

Cameroon's film industry has witnessed slow growth, in contrast to countries like its neighbor, Nigeria, where the movie market is booming. Experts say a main problem is getting financing. But the number of productions has risen with increased affordability of digital video equipment. Film production in Cameroon witnessed a significant surge last year in sharp contrast to stagnation a decade ago. More than 20 Cameroonian movies were shown at theaters nationwide and aired by local television stations. 

Elsewhere, independent video productions are skyrocketing and filmmaking houses are sprouting as more young producers, screenwriters and actors make their debut in the industry.

Experts say there is every reason to believe that the

movie business -- long-dormant -- is waking up.

Mfuh Ebenezer was the first Cameroonian to put a film on video. That was in 1995 and was titled "Love has Eyes." At Christmas he released another, called "Cycle of Trauma," which has already sold thousands of copies.

He says the industry has come a long way, "I real