TIPTOPSTARS

Making Cameroonian movies abroad has been a common activity within the last decade, at least for those who have a penchant for the motion pictures. In quantity and even qualitatively, there has been an upward trend. This has been noticeable. Yet, to say this activity has gone on with few or no guiding principles is staying very close to the truth. This has been the result of filmmakers operating in dispersed ranks. Even when there have been joint projects or call it co-productions, Cameroonian filmmakers in the diaspora have hardly ever converged as an industry to discuss salient issues that could foster a great leap ahead. In the United States, just like in Europe, the scenario has been the same.

However, things may never be the same again, at least in some parts of Europe, especially where filmmaking has gained much ground. This is the case with The Netherlands and Belgium. Cameroonians who make motion pictures a reality in these two countries have vowed to change the phase of the art by getting more professional in a bid to make their works much more appealing. They have also pledged to function like an organized entity, so that filmmaking as an activity can be done with some degree of respect for deontology.

Meeting in the Belgian city of Antwerp recently, the men and women of the seventh art agreed that bringing their resources together and aiming at a common goal was the only way they could catapult the industry to the apex. “We need that unity to be able to reach higher heights,” the coordinator of the session, Titus Banyoh told the assembly.

Also speaking at the meeting, Banyoh, a filmmaker who doubles as journalist hailed his colleagues for making the Antwerp ‘rencontre’ happen, especially when it is generally known that bringing Africans in the diaspora together is herculean. “That’s why I’m going to doff my hat to Simon Timah for his brilliance in publicizing this meeting,” he told attendees.

While looking forward to start preparing a production code, this tip-of-the-iceberg session also discussed issues such as scriptwriting, collaboration, and marketing. Conspicuously present at the meeting were production houses such Great Bridge International, Timah Vision, Spire Entertainment and JEN Entertainment.