MAMBAR PIERRETTE

In the organizer's words:

AFRIKAMERA: MAMBAR PIERRETTE

Rosine Mbakam I Cameroon/ Belgium 2023 I OmeU I 93 min

SO 16 NOV I 16:00 I CITY SINEMA TRANSTOPIA

Over the past ten years, Cameroonian filmmaker Rosine Mbakam(CHEZ JOLIE COIFFURE, DELPHINE'S PRAYERS) has made a name for herself with sensitive, observational documentary portraits of African women.

At the center of her feature film debut is the talented seamstress Pierrette, who runs a small workshop in the Cameroonian city of Douala. As a single mother who also cares for an elderly parent, she struggles to survive financially. Her life is also characterized by major challenges in other respects. When she takes a motorcycle cab after work, she is attacked by robbers who take all her savings - just before the start of the new school year. Finally, her apartment and store are flooded after heavy rain. But instead of despairing, she takes all the setbacks in her stride and relies on the bonds she has forged with the women in her community.

ROSINE MBAKAM, born in Cameroon, came to film at an early age through the Italian NGO COE. In Douala, she worked as an editor, director and presenter at the television station STV. She graduated from the Belgian film school INSAS with the award-winning short fiction film TU SERAS. In 2014, she founded Tândor Productions in Belgium with Geoffroy Cernaix. In 2018, she founded the production company Tândor Films in Cameroon, where she also initiated Caravane Cinéma for the distribution of African films in Cameroon. In 2021, she co-directed PRISME about the filming of black skin. Her feature film MAMBAR PIERETTE debuted in the international competition at TIFF Toronto.

More information: AFRIKAMERA Film Festival.