TIPTOPSTARS

Long-standing efforts to erect a formidable film actors’ guild in Cameroon will soon get into fruition. After uniting the hitherto separate groups that represented the guild, the performing artists are now geared towards putting in place an official leading body to henceforth run the day-to-day affairs of the guild. To that effect, actors from all corners of the Cameroon will converge on Limbe on Saturday October 12, 2013 to chose the people who will handle administrative matters for the guild.

According to reports, lists of aspiring candidates are supposed to have been constituted and forwarded to the election moderator, University of Yaounde I lecturer Dr Fai Donatus who doubles as an actor.

« We will have to have a free and fair election come October the 12th, » Mabel Nchini, remowned Yaounde-based actress told TIPTOPSTARS editor. Also speaking on the line to Yaounde, the actress who features in Royal Destiny (directed by Neba Lawrence and produced by Ayi Chatou Inoua) said that what the guild deserves is people who are honest, humble, innovative, comprehensive and always ready to listen to actors and ferry their worries to appropriate quarter. “They must also be active members of the Cameroon Film Industry,” she added. Mabel went on: “Actors’ rights is paramount here. It’s something which has never been taken seriously and so if none of the candidates is ready to shoulder the responsibility of ensuring that these rights are respected, then there is no reason for them to be vying for office.”

This election will be the first since the Cameroon Actors’ Guild (CAMAG) found common grounds with National Actors’ Guild of Cameroon (NAGCAM) to form a unified body. The truce was reached a couple of months ago and a historic maiden general assembly held in Bamenda recently.

Speaking to African Cocktail ( a show on Ohio’s Afrikka Radio) with Ernest Kanjo recently, Moma Pascal and Vugah Samsom, estwhile guild leaders expressed satisfaction with this newfound unity and promised to work hand-in-gloves to give Cameroonian actors the image they deserve.

Meantime, Cameroon is now known to be a fertile milieu for up-and-coming actors on the continent. Scores of them have been making great strides to the utter amazement of more advanced industries including Nollywood and Ghollywood. Amongst them are Solange Yijika, Epule Jeffery, Nchifor Valery, Kang Quintus, Mairo Sanda, Qunita Eyong Ashu, Oitia Vitalis, etc. Also prominent is the cast of the famous Ninah’s Dowry with Anurin Nwunembom, lead actor who recently won the best actor award at the Pan African Film Festivals in Cannes, France.