Discoveries from Cameroon World Cinema

After refusing the sexual advances of her village chief and her father's authority, a young woman runs away from home and goes to town. There she meets several members of her family and tries to start her life from scratch. She enrolls at a high school and makes new friends. However, she realizes that social relations in town also depend on sexual favors and that around her everyone has given in to that practice. When she loses the only man she loved, the girl returns to her village and in a fit of rage sets it on fire.

A film by Doba Kadana Aiméé-Diane.

The movie exposes the life of a young lady " Eposi " who learns she will die if she does not receive a transfusion of rare blood from a donor.

A young inquisitive British trained scout who is displaced to a primal village challenges the era of tradition in the 1980s which gravely endangers his life.

A film made in Cameroon and France about the life and work of filmmaker Djibril Diop Mambéty, with testimonials from filmmakers Abderrahmane Sissako, Newton Aduaka and Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Cheick Fantamady Camara, Mahama Johnson Traoré; critics Catherine Ruelle, Thierno I. Dia and Brice Ahounou; Cameroonian actor Gérard Essomba; Mambéty's brother, Wasis Diop; and his son, Teemour Diop Mambéty.

Minga is an orphaned girl living with her stepmother Mami Kaba and her stepsister Abena. One day, when she was washing dishes in the river, she accidentally broke a spoon. A furious Mami Kaba then chased her away from the house, asking her to find the only identical spoon hidden by her late mother. A adventurous journey then begins for Minga in the forest.

Since 2014, the terrorist organisation Boko Haram have led strikes against the villages and people of the Far North Region of Cameroon. Today, this constant threat of violence has woven itself into daily existence.

Chief Donald intends to spend the rest of his life in perfect celibacy. But his adventurous past eventually catches up with him, when he suddenly discovers he fathered many children with several women during the days of his youth.

The film tells us the vagaries of the life of a Métis child abandoned at the age of 7 months; and who despite some beautiful encounters finds himself on the street when of 11/12 years old among the others left out of the Cameroonian society.

Banned in Cameroon, The Big Banana illustrates the poor working conditions in banana plantations and exposes the adverse impact on the people of a corporatocracy government that affords super profits for corporations at the expense of the local population. The Big Banana outlines land grabbing tactics by company Plantation du Haut Penja (PHP) and the ensuing devastation for communities: poverty, pollution, and sickness from pesticides. Bieleu, who spent two years filming residents in the remote countryside of Cameroon also features local cooperatives resisting the devastation through business alliances with fair trade organizations.

Etaka and her husband went out to celebrate the news of being parents but ended up celebrating the disgrace of Etaka urinating on her body.

Before starring in their own concert film "Man No Run by Claire Denis", the legendary bikutsi rock group Les Têtes Brulées appeared as one of several unconventional guests at a school in Cameroon determined to fight for drinkable water in this docu-fiction hybrid.

Who would have ever thought that the frantic pursuit of influence would only be a good illusion for this group of young women?

Although the laws advocate gender equality, the maintenance of the dowry ritual has disastrous consequences on the perception of women in Cameroonian society and leads to violence against women's bodies from birth to their death and even after their descendants.

The painful story of a young woman from a wealthy family who finds herself kicked out of her family home by her father, who couldn't bear the fact that she had once again become pregnant by an irresponsible man.

After a war outbreak in her village due to Cameroon's Anglophone-Crisis, a desperate woman seeks refuge in the forest. A cellphone is her only lifeline, as relies on a stranger's kindness to determine her fate.

Bendskins is the name given to the motorcycle taxi-drivers of Cameroon. The film tells stories from the lives of three bendskins. Stories full of drama, tragedy and tempo - and insights into modern, urban Africa. Every day, Sani, Marie and Franck make their way with their fares along pot-holed gravel tracks through the chaos of the big city. Their private lives, too, are thrillers with open endings. Sani gets into trouble with his pregnant girlfriend's father, who's not afraid to throw his weight around. Marie is searching for a man who years ago raped her. And Franck is trying to get rid of a bag with shocking contents.

This short companion film features commentary on Muna Moto by director Jean-Pierre Dikongué Pipa and cinema critic and filmmaker Férid Boughérid.

Ayo helps her mother with the deliveries of the women in her village and wonders whether she would like to have a child herself…

A creative documentary highlighting the first novel by Mongo Beti, also known as Eza Boto, a pioneering writer of Francophone literature. On a journey through the places mentioned in the novel "Cruel City," two young narrators delve into a colonial world of ruthless violence... We also discover the life story of an African thinker, exiled in Rouen and invisible because of his pan-Africanist views. This documentary is aimed at all Africans and anyone interested in pan-African literature and history.

Afanwi (A Religious Fanatic) insist they see a certain Man of God (as opposed to a marriage councilor). Enroute, they take a wrong-turn, get lost in a remote and dangerous village.

Come explore the streets of Douala, one of the busiest ports in West Africa.

Badiaga follows the rules of a classical tragedy. A three year old girl abandoned in a food market is sheltered and raised by a deaf and dumb vagrant. They develop a very strong bond. Badiaga dreams of becoming a famous singer and listens in total fascination to the artists who sing in the different cafés where she wanders. One day she has the chance of singing on the radio a song which becomes a national hit. From that moment onwards she holds a nonstop succession of concerts. In love with her career, she refuses any romantic relations and searches desperately for her origins. This story was inspired by the life of Beti-Beti, a legendary Cameroon singer.

First ever cameroonian short movie

A portrait of love caught at the edge of sacrifice and new horizons, Sous le Soleil du Kwat (Under the Borough Sun) lets a tender love story unfold in the vibrance of Cameroon’s streets—until a revelation threatens to change everything.

In a polygamous Muslim family, Aladji takes a fourth wife, Sakina. Welcomed by Aissatou and Nafissa, his first and third wives, Djaili is jealous and keeps her distance. When Sakina finds it difficult remaining without news of her husband, Aissatou decides it's time to explain the principle of "walaandé".

Amidst the backdrop of intercultural differences and religious tensions over land disputes, Wambo, a 25-year-old Christian woman, defies societal norms and prejudices by falling in love with Ibrahim, a Muslim man. Their relationship blossoms, but it also thrusts Wambo into the role of a reluctant mediator between the conflicting factions. Driven by her desire to bridge the divide and preserve their fragile love, she navigates treacherous waters.

After an unusual occurrence in a sacred forest, a group of college students return home to find that something is eliminating them, one after another.

Bob, a 32-year-old professional boxer, lives with 30-year-old Marie and their 10-year-old son Adam. They live a peaceful life until Marie is arrested during a drug deal.

Mr Jackson who is a successful and devoted businessman dedicated all his time to his business and forgot to raise his children. He even gives a deaf ear to his wife Mrs Jackson. But as life has it, time quickly brought to the face of the Jackson's family what Mr Jackson implanted in his first son Ngwa.

Mumbari's family lost everything as a result of their constant brutality and unreasonable violence.

Between age three and four, Vera Loumpet-Galitzine traverses many landscapes, exploring where she comes from, to come into her own. We follow her to her school and neighbourhood activities in France, Cameroon and Russia. As Vera dances, sings and runs around these visually engaging landscapes, seemingly easily integrated into her rich fantasy world, we attempt to imagine what they look like to her. What does she see, think, or imagine?

Sila Apiseh, a young woman, decides to run for office. She engages in a battle to empower women and give hope to youth in her country.

Prince Randy and his Foundation fought for their country to legalize blood and organ donation, which was accepted but his own village refused to acknowledge. In the process of convincing his people of the benefits of blood and organ donation, he was involved in an accident and required a kidney transplant. The Fon chose to save his son by donating his kidney, which cost him his life and rendered the prince ineligible for the throne.

Josette, 75, struggling with her loneliness, meets Sarah, a young woman from her neighborhood. The two women, of diametrically opposed personalities, become acquainted, and gradually, all of Josette’s points of reference, linked to family ties, are shattered.

Cameroonian horror film.

A grade six boy Langcer Divine (Frubi Rollins) is caught in a web of abuse and neglect by his school teachers and peers because of his dullness.

The film discusses the artificiality and the Fragility of the border between Cameroon and Chad, which is determined by the Chari river. The people residing around the riverbank go freely back and forth, and take advantage of these socio-ethnic corridors to sneak between the two nationalities in order to seize the opportunities presented to them. The film accompanies Waldiga, a university student in Chad, who as many others in this region has a life on both sides.

A student/teacher relationship goes awry.

The elderly Isabel Cardoso works in the kitchen of a nursery school. Her hands are worn, her memory sharp and heavy with grief. In moments of stillness she reaches across the divide, communicating with her deceased mother through the stirring winds, the rippling surface of water, the cracked earth. A richly intimate documentary mosaic of the strength, struggle and transcendence of black womanhood.

16-year-old Vivian moves to live with her grandmother Ma Granni in the city of Bamenda. On her arrival, she is infatuated by Ben, an okada boy. Ben so Lovely and willing to be financially supportive takes Vivian on a ride to a seemingly romantic but dangerous adventure.

Shot in 1986, the film presents scenes from the everyday life of a Mbororo pastorialist family living on the outskirts of Garoua, by then, the biggest town in Northern Cameroon. It documents the gradual sedentarisation and Islamisation of the Mbororo and presents rituals, chants, dances, healing practices as well as the transmission of traditional knowledge about medical plants and local religious beliefs.

Fetba, a small village situated in the West province of Cameroon is undergoing rapid transformation since more than 10 years now. In this locality the Cameroon government has provided population with electricity, potable water and a health center.

Kapsiki are split by colonial boundaries and a mountain chain. Through a passer’s every day life, Zavra’s, we understand how go-between are important for this community.

“Together as one” shows the social use of kola nut in Nso’ society. Nso’ is the biggest Kingdom of the Western Grassfields and an ethnic group in the northeast corner of Cameroon’s North West region. Its capital Kumbo is where the ruler (Fon) lives. The Nso’ population counts Christians, Muslims, and followers of “indigenous” religious beliefs. This film shows what a thing, a nut or a natural resource, can mean to people. Kola nut is an item around which the feeling, experience, sense, and lived “reality” of belonging, togetherness, being together, unity, oneness, friendship and peace is being expressed. The kola nut thus plays an important role in bringing very diverse people together, irrespective of their religion, village, quarter, or thoughts. In this sense, kola nut brings about a feeling of togetherness, fellowship, and belonging to a group.