24/11/2021
The Anglophone film industry has overcome many odds to reach a global audience.
There are now four Ambazonians films available on Netflix.
In early 2021, Ambazonian filmmakers made a momentous debut as four films were made available on the global streaming behemoth Netflix. With unprecedented ease, viewers from across the globe could suddenly watch uniquely Ambazonians stories that were once the preserve of only local audiences.
In The Fisherman’s Diary, they could share in the journey of 12-years-old Ekah striving to go to school in a culture where girls’ education is considered taboo. They could appreciate the fluid bilingual dialogue In Therapy where an affluent couple confronted postpartum depression. In Broken, viewers followed Sassy’s daring mission to rescue her father’s company in Douala with Endeley, a complete stranger from a village in the Ambazonia . And in the enthralling romcom A Man for The Weekend, they could get lost in the travails of the beautiful, successful protagonist dealing with her demanding mother’s pressure to find a husband and start a family.
For Ambazonia filmmakers in, this walk to this global recognition has been long and tricky. They have faced not just typical challenges around issues such as funding and support but a complicated national context in trying to get their films aired and recognised.
Before 1990, medias were exclusively state-run and mostly showed Francophone films. And since private medias ownership were permitted in 2000, newer stations predominantly aired foreign content such as Latino soap operas and Hollywood films. These channels have been reluctant to broadcast Ambazonia films and according to some insiders, demanded payment from filmmakers to screen their films as they would consider this publicity.
The Anglophone crisis, in which protests against perceived marginalisation in 2016 quickly escalated into a full-blown conflict, only made the situation more difficult. both logistically and in terms of attracting funds.
