Timetable

Enterrés

Buried

Françoise Ellong

CM
2020
Feature Film
88’
OmU
International Feature Film Competition

This film has been nominated for the Audience Award endowed with 1,000 euro. Please vote after watching the movie.
You can find an overview of all nominated films here.

At Ndewa’s suggestion, four childhood friends meet up after the funeral of their former orphanage director. At 39, Ndewa is the oldest of them, and he’s not the only one whose life isn’t working out too well at present. So everyone agrees to his idea: each of them wants to bury an object or symbol of the past at the lonely meeting spot to help them reflect on their own perspectives and start a new life. When Ndewa wants to bury a key, a sort of memory game begins which drag old demons out into the open. One by one, the friends think back to their childhood in the children’s home run by monks. And they recall ›Daddy‹, the priest in charge of the home who always kept this key on him.

Françoise Ellong’s film delivers a statement against the silence that the powerful institution of the church uses as a weapon to suppress the victims of abuse in the name of religion. The film also raises the question of the responsibility of all those who stay silent on the suffering of those affected – neighbours, relatives or those in charge at such institutions. It’s a fascinating vehicle that examines trauma, alternating between psychological thriller and chamber drama.

Director / Script

Françoise Ellong

Cinematography

Ybain Emile-Aimé Chah

Sound

Serge Minyem

Cast

Anurin Nwunemborn, Lucie Memba Bos, Assala Kofane, Emy Dany Bassong, Denis Etouka

Production

Nabe Daone Enterprises

Contact

Françoise Ellong

Porträt von Françoise Ellong, Filmemacherin

Françoise Ellong

Born in Douala in 1988, Cameroonian screenwriter and director Françoise Ellong went to live with her uncle in Brunoy, France, when she was eleven. She wrote her first stories there and took part in the French Language Young Writer International Prize. The jury commended her short story Diary of a Murderer and encouraged her to go into screenwriting. To date, Ellong has written and directed nine award-winning short films. She teaches screenwriting in Yaoundé. Her feature film debut W.A.K.A. screened in 30 countries and won seven international awards. She is currently working on three feature films and a pan-African TV series.


Films by Françoise Ellong (Selection)
W.A.K.A. 2014 | Now and Them 2012 | Rachel’s Last Call 2012 | When Soukina Disappeared 2011 | At Close Range 2011 | Nek 2010 | Big Woman Don’t Cry 2010