Mambar Pierrette
Rosine Mbakam
It’s the rainy season and the new school year is about to begin. From dawn ’til dusk, Mambar Pierette sews school uniforms and exquisite dresses for special occasions in her tiny shop in a slum of Douala (Cameroon). Mambar is not just a seamstress, she is also a trusted confidante to her customers. She knows all about money and romantic troubles, family matters and the problems of emigrating and returning home. But she also has plenty of worries of her own: flooding in her home and shop, an absent husband, an ailing mother, three children who need school supplies, and there’s never enough money. She has to overcome setbacks and disasters time and time again. She endures her situation with stoic calm, and refuses to put up with patriarchal oppression. Her hard-earned independence and the sense of community in her neighbourhood give her strength.
Drawing on her acclaimed documentary Chez jolie coiffure (2018) about the African diaspora in a hairdressing salon in Brussels, Rosine Mbakam has produced her feature film debut Mambar Pierrette with the same documentary patience and a cast of largely non-professional actors. The fictionalised experiences of her charismatic protagonist – played by Mbakam’s cousin Pierrette Aboheu and filmed by Fiona Braillon – sensitively and empathetically reflect the arduous everyday life in Cameroon.
Guest: Rosine Mbakam
In cooperation with the Afrika Film Festival Köln
Rosine Mbakam
Geboren in Kamerun, kam Rosine Mbakam früh über die italienische NGO COE zum Film. In Douala arbeitete sie u. a. als Redakteurin, Regisseurin und Moderatorin bei STV. Ihr Studium an der belgischen Filmschule INSAS schloss sie mit dem vielfach ausgezeichneten Kurzspielfilm Tu seras mon allie ab. 2014 gründete sie Tândor Productions in Belgien mit Geoffroy Cernaix. 2018 gründete sie in Kamerun die Produktionsfirma Tândor Films und initiierte Caravane Cinéma für den Vertrieb afrikanischer Filme in Kamerun. 2021 realisierte sie in Co-Regie Prisme über das Filmen von schwarzer Haut. 2023 lief ihr Spielfilmdebüt Mambar Pierette im internationalen Wettbewerb des IFFF. Der New Yorker bezeichnete sie als eine der wichtigsten Dokumentarfilmer*innen der Gegenwart.
Filme von Rosine Mbakam (Auswahl)
Mambar Pierette 2023 |Prisme 2021 |Les prières de Delphine 2021 |La majorité invisible 2020 | Chez jolie coiffure 2018 |Les deux visages d’une femme Bamiléké 2017| Tu seras mon allie 2012
Preise für The Two Faces of a Bamiléké Woman:
First Award Documentary – Festival London Feminist
Award of the Flemish UNESCO commission – Afrika Film Festival
First Award Documentary – Do Pao International Documentary Film Festival (PT)
Special Mention of the Jury – Festival Ecrans Noirs (CM)
Best Documentary First Work & Special Mention young public – FIDBA (AG)
Special Mention in the feature length documentaries – Festival du film documentaire de Saint-Louis (FR)
Special Mention of the Jury – Filter à tout prix (BE)
