Africa News

Cameroon film is beacon of light

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 11:33

Zigoto Tchaya Tchameni

Rising Cameroon director Zigoto Tchaya Tchameni has just completed his latest production, which is destined for the international film festival circuit. The Quick and the Dead is Zigoto Tchaya Tchameni’s (aka ‘Zigi’) 10th film in nine years. He is rated among the brightest and hardest working filmmakers in Cameroon.

“We hope to release the film in 2012. Although our main target is the global festival circuit, the film will also screen in local cinema halls,” says Tchameni, whose other films include Gymnastics, The Match and Taboo.

The Quick and the Dead stars David Noundji in his debut film appearance. He plays Mr Jicker, a high school principal. Ninety minutes long and filmed in French, English and indigenous Cameroonian languages, the film underscores a new form of juvenile delinquency in a fiction / horror / musical comedy format. It also alerts parents and school administrators to watch out for the risks that surround freedom of experimentation in an era of rapid information exchange and communication technology.

Set in a haunted imaginary high school in Cameroon, the film focuses on what children get up to when their parents and teachers are not around. The film centres on two gangs at the school – Bande des Nuls and BCBG – that explore ways to find out why they have been denied a visit to the school’s underground, which was burnt down 40 years ago. The big reveal happens via a misconstrued love affair between a student and the principal.

A co-production between Tchameni’s own company, Zoomers Pictures, and Rue 1113 (founded by Maria Raffaella Anselmi), The Quick and the Dead was shot in 14 weeks in Yaounde, Cameroon. Eighty percent of the shoot occurs in a French high school, Lycee Fustel Des Coulanges.

The film script was adapted by Tchameni, Buminang Elvis Ngwansi and Mbarga Joseph Pascal from a stage play titled Rendez Vous Avec Les Morts written by Elena Matilda Serna.

Singular style

It was shot on a Canon XL 1, utilising a Steadicam and an eight-metre high crane. The film was edited on Final Cut Pro with Adobe After Effects.

Tchameni is blown away by the film’s cinematography. “It’s outstanding – the tone and texture of the images were carefully composed to suggest heat and fear. Great attention was paid to frame composition as we wanted to deviate from the classic film norms.”

He adds that this is demonstrated through the use of extreme close-up shots and very wide shots. “The style of the film establishes an anti-conformist approach that reflects not only the students’ misbehaviour but also the director’s life. I believe this extreme technique makes the film very pacey.”
Budgeted at $84 000, The Quick and the Dead was produced by Tchameni and Maria Raffaella Anselmi, who also financed the film. They are looking for sponsors to pick up the post-production expenses.

There is no local distributor in place yet and the director attributes this to the slow development of the Cameroonian film industry. The producers hope to get support from overseas distribution companies.

SCREENAFRICA Print Magazine – November 2011 (view here)
Martin Chemhere

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