Cameroon Cinema: when will it come to the limelight?

The 19th edition of the Ecrans Noirs film festival opens in Yaoundé on 18 July and it will be a place of gatherings and creating opportunities between different actors in the film world from diverse backgrounds.

Also, it is a cultural high mass for gauging progress in the cinema sector in Cameroon and also to discuss its problems.

Year after year, Basseck ba Kobhio, promoter of the festival, continues to increase Cameroonian films of all formats in showing. From a zero display in first edition of Ecrans Noirs, they became 30 in 2008.

An increase that reflects the will of the organizing committee to enable Cameroonian filmmakers present their productions in order to make themselves known, to network and to better equip themselves to develop. The production also reflects the vitality of the sector, although for many observers it is an illusion. Thus, this sector is stuck with various difficulties ranging from equipment to distribution, through to finance and human resources.

Despite the increase and diversification of audiovisual production, we cannot seriously speak of a film industry in Cameroon in the absence of formal operations. In January 2009, the last three of Cameroon cinemas have closed in succession; the Abbia in Yaoundé, the Wouri in Douala, and Empire in Bafoussam.

Today, the conventional operation is in crisis if not nonexistent. The announcement of the closure of the entire network in less than a week has had raised many sentiments and reactions of directors, producers and actors who sought the intervention of the state and local authorities.

The Minister of Arts and Culture, Ama Tutu Muna, stated that she "would do everything in her power to solve the situation." A few years later, the Cameroonian Cultural Centre was rehabilitated with a projection room of 160 seats. Similarly, a room with a capacity of 120 seats named Sita Bella Centre was commissioned in Minac.

Moreover, the first problem raised by the filmmakers was the lack of financial assistance. As the economic crisis continues in the country and resources being scarce, the first to suffer from its aftermath are the cultural industries. They represent risks that very few people want to take part in. Currently, the main markets for African films in general and particularly Cameroon are festivals and televisions due to the non-existence of cinemas. Cameroonian productions do not find sufficient profit in the classic film trail whether in Africa or abroad.

In this context, North-South co-productions are the only way to produce a feature-length movie in professional conditions in Cameroon, according to industry players.

The example of the film ‘Les Saignantes’ by Jean-Pierre Bekolo (2007) is instructive in this regard. However, there is a profusion of productions with the advent of digital technology and the proliferation of private television channels.

A new generation of Cameroonian filmmakers is emerging including Joséphine Ndagnou whose film, ‘Paris at all costs’, had 70 000 entries in 2008. It must now rely on alternative circuits in digital projection and DVD and VCD sales to recoup film production and face the invasion of Nollywood productions. In the absence of an organized industry, industrial new dynamics are needed in Cameroon.