Teaser
- Available: Stream/Download
in English/French with German subtitles
Synopsis
- Documentary, 52 minutes, HDV, 16:9, Stereo Director: Natalie Patterer; Dramaturgy: Anne-Kathrin Wilde Camera: Kristina Förtsch; Music Production: Matthias Ziegler
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This documentary film is an interdisciplinary student project of four students from the University of Bayreuth in Bavaria, Germany. An aim of this project is not only to contribute to academic research about African theatre, but also to draw attention to the methods and benefits of TFD in Cameroon. Therefore, the film shows various types of Cameroonian theatre, always with a focus on TFD; this special form of theatre which is almost unknown in Germany.
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What tools are available to a society to inform people about such urgent issues of health, politics or society, when illiteracy, social status or an individual’s location prevents access to education and schools? Over the past decades Cameroonian people established a mean of communication which – in its different forms - can reach all members of society: The Theatre for Development (TFD).
Theatre, and particularly TFD, can be more than simple entertainment despite or especially because entertainment being an essential part of its performances. The ‘as-if-situation’ on stage not only enables the actors to talk about taboo topics, it also gives them the possibility to discuss these issues within and after the performance with the audience. Therefore, TFD is seen as an important participative tool to educate and challenge conventional thinking rather than telling people what is right or wrong.
This documentary film is an interdisciplinary student project of four students from the University of Bayreuth in Bavaria, Germany. An aim of this project is not only to contribute to academic research about African theatre, but also to draw attention to the methods and benefits of TFD in Cameroon. Therefore, the film shows various types of Cameroonian theatre, always with a focus on TFD; this special form of theatre which is almost unknown in Germany.
During the film the audience accompanies three different theatre groups. The first part of the film shows the work of Art et Stratégie, the theatre group of the three young actors Amadou Bouna Gua Zong, Richard Fouofie Djimeli and Boris Sidoine Talom. Their political parody “La Chaise” (“The Chair”) had its premiere at the CICACK-Festival in Kribi (Carrefour International des Cultures Anciennes et Contemporaines de Kribi). The film accompanies them while they have their final rehearsal as well as at the premiere staging of the play.
The second part of the documentary focuses on the RETIC-Festival (Rencontres Théâtrales Internationales du Cameroon) which took place in Yaoundé. The main topic of the 2009 festival was the woman as an artist. A young female cameroonian director, Deneuve Djibong, opened the festival with her interpretation of “Cannibales”, a play of Joseph Pliya. The film let her and the director of the festival, Ambroise Mbia, talk about their work, cameroonian theatre and the role of women as artists.
Finally, the film accompanies professors, lecturers and students from the Performing Arts Section of the University Yaoundé I, who organized a 3-days theatre workshop at the SOS village in Mbalmyo. Within these three days they worked with about 20 kids of the SOS village and eventually performed three sketches in front of the other kids as well as the director of the village, the SOS-Mothers and SOS-Aunts.
Crew
- Director: Natalie Patterer
- Director of photography: Kristina Förtsch
- Score: Mathias Ziegler
- Producer: Anne-Kathrin Wilde
