Home The News The Role of the media in the Cameroon film Industry
The Role of the media in the Cameroon film Industry
News / Latest / TTS / ••Wednesday•, 20 •August• 2008 12:58•
cfi_delegates.jpg
CFI Delegates
 
Excerpt of Paper presented by Ernest kanjo at the Yaounde
Convention of the Cameroon Film Industry
 
"..Before taking a deep look at the current situation, let me rekindle some good old memories which would naturally provoke a strong feeling of nostalgia. As a baby (less than half a decade old), Cameroon Television, the then CTV was an august guest in every home on Saturdays. 8pm was prime time and no one could afford to blink their eyes when the famous serial L’Orphelin was on. Who could miss Le débrouillard for example? Silence on Joue was another must-watch series. L’Etoile du Noudi, Le Retraité, Japhet et Jinette and Etounou were other important rendez-vous on our darling television. Then the stars emerged: Esola, Mbita, Ta Zibi, Oncle Ochama, you can name the rest.

 

At that time, the Schwarzeneggers, Stallones, Seagars, Van Dammes and Jacky Chans were in full action, but they could not deprive their Cameroonian counterparts of their home audience. Even imported serials that were projected at the time could not compete with the ones produced back home. We watched the local serials with an unending appetite. That was Cameroon Television exerting its strength on the audience.

 

Unfortunately, the pace slowed down over the years as many of the locally-produced telefilms disappeared from our screens, giving way for foreign ones.  Such productions coming from abroad ceased the front seat on board the CRTV broadcast vehicle and soon became our identity. I don’t want to get into reports of women abandoning their boiling pots or crying babies to honour rendez-vous with foreign serials on our national television.

But if by 1998 when the Chilean pill, Marimar was rounding off, our locally-produced telefilms were still waxing on strong, the movie industry in Cameroon would have made bigger names than Marimar or Sergio. If by 2006 when the curtains were pulled on another craziness tablet, this time, the Fillipo serial, The Promise, our products were still waxing on strong, our film industry would have had more famous stars than Yna and Angelo. Unfortunately, our youth would quickly identify with an Yna or an Angelo than and our own actors and actresses. Else, why would these foreign movie stars be glorified on T-shirts, caps, bracelets, underwear and other gadgets, the way it happened? Or, isn’t Claude Ndengue who hit our screens as far back as 1987 when he starred in Trials of Passion a thrilling actor? Aren’t Solange Yijika or Grace Adama, just to name these thrilling actresses. They definitely are. But how much of them is known by Cameroonians? That is the big question!

 

CRTV has kept functioning, since creation, but not much is happening as far as promoting the film industry is concerned. One would go with the erroneous impression that films are not done in Cameroon, whereas we are told that movies are shot in the country on a daily basis.

 

The relationship between the industry and our national broadcaster seems to be limited to launch announcements, news coverage for awards and festivals, especially the ones that are patronised by the Ministry of Culture and “Hello”/ “Monday Show” / “Morning” Safari interviews. Yet, two and at times three-hour long foreign films are projected on CRTV. I may not know much about the commercial policy of the house, but I think CRTV would have contributed enormously to sell the industry if they allocated much airtime for our films. After all, isn’t Africa Magic doing Nigeria proud?......................"

 

Complete Paper available for registered members


•Last Updated on ••Tuesday•, 02 •September• 2008 12:40••
418293622 7484176181616363_8241778451874313913_n

LATEST COMMENTS

  • Well, I think the CEA was a very shallow and misgu... More...
  • This is creativity we are talking about, this are ... More...
  • Lovelyn,your pre-selection criterias are ok but i'... More...
  • camhood 4 the better More...
  • fame is gd More...
  • CONGRATULATION. THANK GOD FOR YOU GUYS. CAMEROON S... More...
  • cool girls dat was great but this year we the cons... More...

•Profile Information•

Application afterLoad: 0.000 seconds, 0.41 MB
Application afterInitialise: 0.028 seconds, 2.88 MB
Application afterRoute: 0.035 seconds, 3.57 MB
Application afterDispatch: 0.107 seconds, 7.12 MB
Application afterRender: 0.144 seconds, 8.27 MB

•Memory Usage•

8742752

•23 queries logged•

  1. SELECT *
      FROM jos_session
      WHERE session_id = '80um9n588ipb9iq82ha05n8s15'
  2. DELETE
      FROM jos_session
      WHERE ( TIME < '1777165054' )
  3. SELECT *
      FROM jos_session
      WHERE session_id = '80um9n588ipb9iq82ha05n8s15'
  4. INSERT INTO `jos_session` ( `session_id`,`time`,`username`,`gid`,`guest`,`client_id` )
      VALUES ( '80um9n588ipb9iq82ha05n8s15','1777165954','','0','1','0' )
  5. SELECT *
      FROM jos_components
      WHERE parent = 0
  6. SELECT folder AS TYPE, element AS name, params
      FROM jos_plugins
      WHERE published >= 1
      AND access <= 0
      ORDER BY ordering
  7. SELECT *
      FROM jos_migration_backlinks
      WHERE url LIKE 'the-news/60-the-role-of-the-media-in-the-cameroon-film-industry.html%' OR sefurl LIKE 'the-news/60-the-role-of-the-media-in-the-cameroon-film-industry.html%'
  8. SELECT m.*, c.`option` AS component
      FROM jos_menu AS m
      LEFT JOIN jos_components AS c
      ON m.componentid = c.id
      WHERE m.published = 1
      ORDER BY m.sublevel, m.parent, m.ordering
  9. SELECT *
      FROM jos_jcomments_settings
  10. SELECT template
      FROM jos_templates_menu
      WHERE client_id = 0
      AND (menuid = 0 OR menuid = 50)
      ORDER BY menuid DESC
      LIMIT 0, 1
  11. SELECT a.*, u.name AS author, u.usertype, cc.title AS category, s.title AS SECTION, CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(a.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(":", a.id, a.alias) ELSE a.id END AS slug, CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(cc.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(":", cc.id, cc.alias) ELSE cc.id END AS catslug, g.name AS groups, s.published AS sec_pub, cc.published AS cat_pub, s.access AS sec_access, cc.access AS cat_access  
      FROM jos_content AS a
      LEFT JOIN jos_categories AS cc
      ON cc.id = a.catid
      LEFT JOIN jos_sections AS s
      ON s.id = cc.SECTION
      AND s.scope = "content"
      LEFT JOIN jos_users AS u
      ON u.id = a.created_by
      LEFT JOIN jos_groups AS g
      ON a.access = g.id
      WHERE a.id = 60
      AND (  ( a.created_by = 0 )    OR  ( a.state = 1
      AND ( a.publish_up = '0000-00-00 00:00:00' OR a.publish_up <= '2026-04-26 01:12:34' )
      AND ( a.publish_down = '0000-00-00 00:00:00' OR a.publish_down >= '2026-04-26 01:12:34' )   )    OR  ( a.state = -1 )  )
  12. UPDATE jos_content
      SET hits = ( hits + 1 )
      WHERE id='60'
  13. SELECT id
      FROM jos_menu
     
      WHERE link LIKE '%option=com_search%'
     
      AND TYPE = 'component'
     
      AND published = 1
      LIMIT 0, 1
  14. SELECT id, title, module, POSITION, content, showtitle, control, params
      FROM jos_modules AS m
      LEFT JOIN jos_modules_menu AS mm
      ON mm.moduleid = m.id
      WHERE m.published = 1
      AND m.access <= 0
      AND m.client_id = 0
      AND ( mm.menuid = 50 OR mm.menuid = 0 )
      ORDER BY POSITION, ordering
  15. SELECT m.*, SUM(CASE WHEN p.published=1 THEN 1 ELSE 0 END) AS cnt

      FROM jos_menu AS m

      LEFT JOIN jos_menu AS p
      ON p.parent = m.id

      WHERE m.menutype='mainmenu'
      AND m.published='1'
      AND m.access <= '0'

      GROUP BY m.id
      ORDER BY m.parent, m.ordering
  16. SELECT m.*
      FROM jos_menu AS m

      WHERE menutype='mainmenu'
      AND m.published='1'
  17. SELECT cc.id, cc.userid, cc.comment, cc.name, cc.username, cc.email, cc.DATE, cc.object_id, cc.object_group, '' AS avatar
     
      FROM jos_jcomments AS cc
     
      LEFT JOIN jos_content AS c
      ON c.id = cc.object_id
     
      WHERE cc.published = 1
       
      AND c.access <= '0'
       
      AND (c.publish_up = '0000-00-00 00:00:00' OR c.publish_up <= '2026-04-26 01:12:34')
       
      AND (c.publish_down = '0000-00-00 00:00:00' OR c.publish_down >= '2026-04-26 01:12:34')
       
      AND cc.object_group = 'com_content'
     
      ORDER BY cc.DATE DESC
     
      LIMIT 7
  18. SELECT a.id, a.sectionid, a.access, CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(a.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(":", a.id, a.alias) ELSE a.id END AS slug, CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(cc.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(":", cc.id, cc.alias) ELSE cc.id END AS catslug
      FROM jos_content AS a
      LEFT JOIN jos_categories AS cc
      ON cc.id = a.catid
      WHERE a.id = 555
  19. SELECT a.id, a.sectionid, a.access, CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(a.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(":", a.id, a.alias) ELSE a.id END AS slug, CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(cc.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(":", cc.id, cc.alias) ELSE cc.id END AS catslug
      FROM jos_content AS a
      LEFT JOIN jos_categories AS cc
      ON cc.id = a.catid
      WHERE a.id = 591
  20. SELECT a.id, a.sectionid, a.access, CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(a.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(":", a.id, a.alias) ELSE a.id END AS slug, CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(cc.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(":", cc.id, cc.alias) ELSE cc.id END AS catslug
      FROM jos_content AS a
      LEFT JOIN jos_categories AS cc
      ON cc.id = a.catid
      WHERE a.id = 575
  21. SELECT a.id, a.sectionid, a.access, CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(a.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(":", a.id, a.alias) ELSE a.id END AS slug, CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(cc.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(":", cc.id, cc.alias) ELSE cc.id END AS catslug
      FROM jos_content AS a
      LEFT JOIN jos_categories AS cc
      ON cc.id = a.catid
      WHERE a.id = 483
  22. SELECT a.id, a.sectionid, a.access, CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(a.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(":", a.id, a.alias) ELSE a.id END AS slug, CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(cc.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(":", cc.id, cc.alias) ELSE cc.id END AS catslug
      FROM jos_content AS a
      LEFT JOIN jos_categories AS cc
      ON cc.id = a.catid
      WHERE a.id = 306
  23. SELECT a.id, a.sectionid, a.access, CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(a.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(":", a.id, a.alias) ELSE a.id END AS slug, CASE WHEN CHAR_LENGTH(cc.alias) THEN CONCAT_WS(":", cc.id, cc.alias) ELSE cc.id END AS catslug
      FROM jos_content AS a
      LEFT JOIN jos_categories AS cc
      ON cc.id = a.catid
      WHERE a.id = 386

•Language Files Loaded•

•Untranslated Strings Diagnostic•

•None•

•Untranslated Strings Designer•

•None•