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| Brenda Shey Elung |
I started in the film industry as an actress and then moved on to become a producer and later on, the Cameroon Film Industry found it necessary that I become the Vice Board Chair of the industry.
As the Vice Board Chair of CFI can you shed light on the road so far covered by the industry?
The Film Industry is still a baby one and we are still facing a lot of difficulties. There are so many goals we want to achieve but we are being held back by many other things. The only thing keeping the industry going is the passion of the members be it the writers, the actors, the producers, the editors, or the marketers. Every body in the industry now is running out of passion. We can't say we are reaping any thing yet from the industry. We are still learning and trying to copy from those who have made it there especially those in our neighbouring countries and others like the Indian Film Industry. What CFI is trying to do now is to enhance every body's talent. In this direction,the industry has created guilds. These are simply structures that can identify different talents in the industry. The biggest at the moment is that of the actors. There are also guilds for the directors, producers,writers, marketers amongst others that are still being created. The most established however is the actors guild which is already functioning like a Trade Union,registered and called NACAM. The most important however that we want to see functioning is the Producers' Guild. It is our firm belief that if any guild is autonomous, there is going to be more efficiency because we are going to empower ourselves by concentrating on our respective talents. The CFI Board over sees the problems of each of the guilds.
What do you consider to be the peak moments of the Cameroon Film Industry-CFI?
The CFI was created in 2008. At its creation, the Ministry of Culture created a Care Taker Committee headed by Wam Musi pending elections.These elections only took place in 2013 during the Yaounde General Assembly which saw the conduction of elections and the founding of a new board. This board since then has no resources and no recognition as of yet. It therefor cannot do anything.We as a result, are not meeting our set goals. Firstly, we don't have the finances to get things running. Secondly, we don't have a protected marketing structure for our movies and the marketing avenue for the Cameroonian movie now is out of the country. We don't yet have an avenue through which Cameroonians can consume our movies.
Do you take the present state of the CFI to be a true reflection of the average Cameroonian as far as the educational baggage is concerned? If no then what do you think accounts for this situation?
Its easy to see the source of the problem. Our main problem is mediatisation. If we were recognised and had this platform through which Cameroonian movies are valorised first of all by the state then things will be different. The National TV Stations are not promoting the film industry by showing our films. It is only CRTV that buys and at a rate that that cannot sustain any initiative. If only five National TV Stations could dedicate sometime for Cameroon movies then we would have a wider recognition and it would be wonderful for the industry and could transform in a very short space of time. Presently the average Cameroonian can give you an expression in the Igbo Language. This is simply because of the existence of many channels that showcase Nigerian Movies. No body knows what we produce but let me tell you that the level of the Cameroon Film Industry will shock you. There are movies that you will watch and will not believe are made in Cameroon. The average Cameroonian just believes Cameroonian films are still as backward as what they knew maybe about ten years ago.
Well said!!
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