Shot in Cameroon and Brussels, Je ne suis pas moi-même explores the world of African antiquities and the contradictions in a European art market hungry for new tribal objects. Where do the African masks come from? What journey do these masks make before their unveiling in the windows of the biggest galleries or art collections in Europe? Who determines the economic and aesthetic value of these objects now that colonialism is supposedly dead' And then there's a continent called Africa, in need of economic resources and therefore willing to sell its cultural heritage or, if need be, to fake it. The authenticity of the objects becomes blurred when the people that once adored them start to sell them.
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4 Archival description results for Cameroon
Le Malentendu Colonial is a courageous voyage into Africa's “German past,” looking at European attempts to colonise Africa through religion and trade. Filmmaker Jean Marie Tenor revisits the role of missionaries in laying the foundations for colonialism in countries like Togo, Cameroon, Namibia and South Africa. The genocidal wars waged by the Germans against the Herrero in Namibia (1904-1907), in which thousands of people were locked up in concentration camps or driven into the desert and forced to scatter in order to survive the genocide, was a practice ground for the later crimes perpetrated by the Nazi army. Through interviews with experts from Germany and Africa, Teno paints a picture of a deeply unsettling period of history that was relatively short but nevertheless horrific.
UntitledIn the 21st century, many ancestral beliefs are struggling to survive in a hostile, fast-changing world. In southeast Ivory Coast, some Akan communities still contact the spirits through Komians or animistic priests who go into a trance and are possessed by the spirits of the Forest and the Waters. Jean Marie Addiaffi (1941-1999), a writer and intellectual from Ivory Coast, fought to conserve the Akans' oral literature, myths and legends, and the traditional knowledge and uses of plants. In Return to the Land of Souls, Yéo Douley, a disciple of Jean Marie Addiaffi, sets out on a journey to visit his master's grave and carry out a ritual libation. On his travels, he attends the initiation rites of three people chosen by the spirits and witnesses one of them proclaimed as the new Komian, or high animistic priest.
UntitledThis documentary challenges the social bases of domestic violence by showing the strategies used by women who work in the legal system, in the gaps left where there are no longer traditions, beliefs or state or religious laws. It is an epic everyday struggle to defend women, but also to convince poor women of their rights. Sisters in Law is a fascinating look at the work of a courthouse in a small town in Cameroon, Central Africa. The tough-minded state prosecutor, Vera Ngassa and judge, Beatrice Ntuba, are helping women and children to find the courage to fight difficult cases of domestic violence and child abuse despite pressures from family and their community to remain silent. Through their emotional stories and courage, the extraordinary work of women in the judicial system shines through. With fierce compassion, the female prosecutor and judge dispense wisdom and justice in fair measure; handing down stiff sentences to those convicted. Sisters in Law presents another reality of African Women’s agency and their resilient spirit, courage, hope and fight for justice and gender equality.
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