« Sita Bella, la première » : Eugénie Metala dans les traces de Thérèse Sita-Bella | in the footsteps of Thérèse Sita-Bella

 Sita Bella, la première : Eugénie Metala dans les traces de Thérèse Sita-Bella | Eugénie Metala in the footsteps of Thérèse Sita-Bella

Eugénie Metala et Beti Ellerson en conversation | Eugénie Metala and Beti Ellerson in conversation.

Translation from French by Beti Ellerson. Images courtesy of Eugénie Metala.

Eugénie Metala dans les traces de Thérèse Sita-Bella: En tant que femme et camerounaise, dans le monde du cinéma—comme Sita-Bella plus de 60 ans avant elle et en tant que conteuse cinématographique, qui trace le chemin de cette femme énigmatique, Eugénie rétablit la mémoire d’une femme qui a fait une contribution indélébile au récit national du Cameroun.

Eugénie Metala in the footsteps of Thérèse Sita-Bella: As a Cameroonian woman in the world of cinema—as Sita-Bella more than 60 years before her, as a cinematic storyteller, who traces the path of this enigmatic woman, Eugénie restores the memory of a woman who has made an indelible contribution to the Cameroonian national story.

Beti Ellerson : Thérèse Sita Bella était une pionnière dans beaucoup de domaines, une pionnière en journalisme, la première femme africaine à réaliser un film—Tam Tam à Paris en 1963 ; aussi elle était pilote d’avion. Avant de discuter de l’évolution de votre film Sita Bella, la première, pouvez-vous nous parler de votre parcours, votre expérience dans le cinéma.

Eugénie Metala : Mon parcours dans le cinéma commence en 2020, après une formation professionnelle en montage audiovisuel, à ce moment je voulais travailler pour la télévision nationale, mais un de mes encadreurs qui travaillait aux Écrans Noirs me parlait beaucoup de cinéma, ça m’a intéressé et j’ai commencé à faire des recherches sur le cinéma, aller en salle et j’ai postulé aux ateliers Mwinda, un atelier en formation documentaire qui se déroulait dans la salle Sita Bella, dont j’entendais parler pour la première fois. En 2021 je réalise mon premier film L’autre match du football féminin, j’enchaine des formations en assistanat de réalisation fiction, dans le cadre du programme Impala, je monte trois films documentaires en 2022, je travaille sur la série Ewusu en 2023, et fin 2024, je réalise Sita Bella, la première dans le cadre du programme Patrimoines-Héritage.

Beti Ellerson: Thérèse Sita-Bella was a first in many fields. A trailblazing journalist, the first African woman to make a film—Tam Tam à Paris in 1963, she was a pilot as well. Before discussing the evolution of your film, Sita Bella, la première (Sita-Bella, the first), could you talk about how you came to cinema.

Eugénie Metala: My journey into cinema began in 2020, after professional training in audiovisual editing. At this time I wanted to work for the national television, but one of my coaches, who worked at Écrans Noirs  talked to me a great deal about cinema, which piqued my interest. I started doing research on cinema, going to the movie theater, and I enrolled in the Mwinda workshops for training in the documentary, which took place in the room Sita Bella—which I heard about for the first time. In 2021 I made my first film, L’autre match du football féminin. From there I trained in assistant film directing. In 2022, within the framework of the Impala program, I edited three documentary films. In 2023 I worked on the series Ewusu, and in 2024 I made the film Sita Bella, la première, as part of the Patrimoines-Héritage program.

***

BE : Pouvez-vous nous parler du documentaire Sita Bella, la première, Qu’est-ce qui vous a inspiré ?

EM : Sita Bella, la première est un film qui parle des paradoxes de la vie en s’appuyant sur le parcours atypique de Thérèse Bella Mbida, cette pionnière oubliée qui n’a pas eu la reconnaissance qui lui était due. Nous vivons dans un monde en perte constante de repère et nous avons besoin de références pour pouvoir avancer. L’histoire de Sita Bella c’est une histoire qui mérite d’être connue et racontée. On doit pouvoir être fier de vanter les mérites de celle qui nous a montré le chemin. En tant que femme cinéaste, je voulais poser un acte fort qui garde cette femme dans nos mémoires de manière à ce qu’elle ne meurt pas une deuxième fois.

BE: Could you talk about the documentary, Sita Bella, la première, what inspired you to approach this subject?

EM: Sita Bella, la première is a film that speaks about the paradoxes of life drawing from the atypical trajectory of Thérèse Bella Mbida, this forgotten pioneer, who did not receive the recognition that she deserved. We live in a world that is losing its bearings and we need references in order to move forward. Sita Bella’s story deserves to be known and told. We should be proud to celebrate the merits of the one who has shown us the way. As a woman cineaste, I wanted to make a powerful gesture which will hold this woman in our memories in such a way that she will not die a second time.

***

BE : Vous êtes femme, camerounaise travaillant dans le monde du cinéma, voyez-vous Sita Bella comme référence ? Comment est-elle perçue dans la culture cinématographique camerounaise, dans la société en général ?

EM : Sita est plus qu’une référence pour moi, on ne saurait parler de cinéma camerounais dans le monde aujourd’hui sans parler de Tam Tam à Paris bien qu’il n’ait pas été vu par beaucoup. Au Cameroun Sita Bella est un modèle de vie, qui a impacté divers domaines, les gens ont pour elle du respect, de l’admiration et quelques lointains souvenirs, dans la culture cinématographique une salle a été nommée à son nom et c’est parfois le principal moyen à travers lequel les cinéastes camerounais eux-mêmes apprennent qu’il y a eu une telle femme autrefois.

BE: You are a Cameroonian woman in cinema, do you see her as a role model? What are the perceptions of Sita Bella in Cameroonian cinema culture?

EM: Sita is more than a role model for me, one cannot speak of Cameroonian cinema in the world today without reference to Tam Tam à Paris, even though many people have not seen it.  In Cameroon, Sita Bella is a model of life, who made an impact in a variety of domains. People have much respect and admiration for her, and a few distant memories. A room in the movie theater at the cultural center is named after her, which is in many cases the primary means by which Cameroonian filmmakers themselves learn that there was once such a woman.

 ***

BE : Comment avez-vous rassemblé le matériel pour le film, quelle a été votre démarche ?

EM : J’ai participé à l’atelier Patrimoine Héritage organisé par le réalisateur et producteur par Jean Marie Teno, et la maison de production Bandjoun Film Studio a mis à ma disposition le matériel technique et une équipe technique qui m’a accompagné du tournage à la post production de mon film.

BE: How did you gather material for the film, what was your process?

 

EM: I participated in the Patrimoine-Heritage workshop organized by the filmmaker and producer Jean-Marie Teno, and the production company Bandjoun Film Studio provided me with the technical material and technical crew which accompanied me throughout the film shooting and post-production of my film.

***

BE : C’est quand même déroutant d’imaginer que la mémoire de cette femme pionnière soit tombée si profondément dans l’obscurité ? Bien sûr il y a une salle de cinéma à son nom, et peut être d’autres efforts pour lui rendre hommage. Ce film dédié à elle, espérons-le sera largement visionné. Est-il prévu de le présenter dans les festivals internationaux ?

EM : Le film suivra un plan de circulation que nous allons définir, qu’il s’agisse des projections dans des festivals sur le plan national et international. Avec les autres films de l’édition Patrimoines-heritage 2023 dont les thèmes tournent autour de la contribution des femmes dans les récits nationaux, des sorties en salles sont envisagées dans certains pays avec le soutien d’associations de luttes contre les violences faites aux femmes.

BE: It is certainly baffling to imagine that the memory of this groundbreaking woman fell so deeply into obscurity; yes, there is a cinema room named after her and perhaps other efforts to honor her. This film, that tells her story, will hopefully be viewed widely. Are there plans to present it at festivals internationally?

 

EM: The film will follow a trajectory that we are in the process of defining which entails national and international screenings. Along with the other films from the Patrimoine-Heritage 2023 edition, all of which are inspired by the theme around women’s contribution to the national story, we envision theatrical releases in certain countries with the support of associations whose mission is to end violence against women.

***

BE : Voyez-vous ce film comme un moyen de faire revivre, faire connaitre son héritage ?

EM : Oui, ce film est pour moi une façon de faire revivre Sita Bella, de la sortir du silence dans lequel elle a été jeté, de faire connaitre ses œuvres, ses rêves et ses espoirs, ses combats et la fierté dans laquelle cette femme très pieuse et très croyante a préféré finir. C’est une opportunité de monter que la femme peut être plurielle et exceptionnelle, emmener les femmes à rêver et à se dire que quelqu’un d’autre a commencé à mener les combats auxquelles elles font face aujourd’hui et qu’elles doivent, que nous devons continuer en nous inspirant du parcours de Sita.

BE: Do you see this film as a way to restore her legacy?

EM: Yes, for me the film is a means to revive Sita Bella, to bring her out of the silence in which she was thrown into, to make her work known, her dreams and hopes, her combats, and with the pride in which this woman, so pious and devout, would have wanted at the end of her life. It is an opportunity to demonstrate that women are multi-dimensional and exceptional, to bring women towards their dreams, to show them that someone else began the combat which they face today and, inspired by Sita’s journey, that women must, that we must continue. 

 

Sarah Maldoror Lives (1929-2020) and Beyond

Sarah Maldoror Lives (1929-2020) and Beyond
Reflections by Beti Ellerson

Photo by Beti Ellerson*

 
Sarah Maldoror, who I respectfully called the matriarch of African cinema, is a cinematic foremother and ancestor since 2020. Beyond the iconic image of Sarah Maldoror, the politically activist filmmaker, one finds the intersectionality of her creative process, the multiple dimensionalities of her life and her vision of the world.
 
I was introduced to Sarah Maldoror in the early 1990s when doing graduate work in African Studies. I met her at Fespaco in 1997, during which I interviewed her for my post-doctoral research project on African women in cinema.
 
She uttered these words to Jadot Sezirahiga during an interview in 1995:

“African women must be everywhere. They must be in the images, behind the camera, in the editing room and involved in every stage of the making of a film. They must be the ones to talk about their problems”.

I found my place among these women, as researcher and scholar of African women in cinema. She set the path for me, I have followed her and her work ever since.
 
She then said to me in 1997:
 
“My role as filmmaker is cultural. What interests me is culture, to research films about African history, because our history has been written by others and not by us. Therefore, if I don't take an interest in my own history, then who is going to do it?  I think it is up to us to defend our own history. It is up to us to make it known, with all our qualities and faults, our hopes and despair—it is our role to do it!”
 
Embodied in these words is a corpus of work that exemplifies her world-making, as well as her efforts to defend the history of Africa, the Diaspora, to tell their stories. A cinematic history that reflects Sarah Maldoror’s political, cinematic and cultural journey, as well as her self-making on her personal journey at the intersection of these experiences.
 
 
Sarah’s gaze
 

“We must fight against the gaze of the other, it can be terrible.”
 
“We put our gaze on others; we were no longer the ‘gazed-upon’.”

 
These two citations, uttered in different contexts, describe Sarah’s desire to control her image and that of Africa and people of African descent. To redefine herself, to tell her history and that of African and Afro-descendent peoples.

Her reinvention of self unfolds in Paris in the late 1940s through the 1950s, she is reborn as Sarah Maldoror. Songs of Maldoror by Isidore Ducasse alias le Comte de Lautréamont is the impetus to her renaissance. Her identity reimagined, she is drawn to the theater, cofounding Les Griots, whose aim is to redefine and promote realistic black representations on the stage. She discovers Africa, through the cultural institution, Présence Africaine, and hence a pivotal moment in her life. At the same time Présence Africaine is a metaphor for Sarah’s journey towards Africa, after which it would be forever present in her thoughts and action. She said in a tribute to Paulin Soumanou Vieyra, that through his work she understood the importance of being in touch with one’s culture in order to be strengthened by the continual movement of one’s thoughts to and from Africa. At the same time she was simultaneously Pan African and a woman beyond borders, an identity that she would embody throughout her life.
 
 
Behind the cloud
 

"Always ready to seize what may be behind the cloud".

 
In many ways this idea of being ready for whatever may be behind the cloud, is symbolic of Sarah’s journey. The leitmotif of Sarah’s process: grabbing the moment, while being prepared for that which is not yet known, the unexpected. Sarah recalls when studying with Mark Donskoi while in Moscow, being encouraged to seek out the paintings of artists, and through these paintings he taught her to see things that she would not otherwise see: be ready always to seize what may be behind the cloud.
 
 
Women in the struggle
 
Sarah’s positionality as a woman and her view of women’s place in the struggle in general may be summed up in three emblematic quotes:
 
"I am one of those modern women who try to combine work and family life, and just like it is for all the others, it's a problem for me. Children need a home and a mother. That's why I try to prepare and edit my films in Paris during the long summer vacation when the children are free and can come along."
 
“I…offer work to as many women as possible during the time I’m shooting my films. You have to support those women who want to work with film.”
 
“More importantly, the participation of women had to be shown. Wars will only end if women take part in making it happen. They don’t have to hold a bazooka, but they have to be present”.

Sarah’s life in the struggle is exemplary of the interplay of the personal and political: mother, companion, artist, filmmaker, who accompanied her partner, Angolan liberation leader Mario de Andrade in the struggle, and raised her daughters, Annouchka de Andrade and Henda Ducados within an environment of political engagement, at the intersection of politics and everyday life, as an integral part of the journey towards African liberation. She instilled in them an appreciation of cinema and the arts. Essential to this understanding was how her films contributed to an awareness of African liberation struggles, to understand the role that individuals play and the ways that ordinary people contribute to the liberation of Africa. The significance of being part of that struggle, and hence, this attitude was incorporated in the everyday life of the family.

 
A family in the struggle
 
Using the camera as a weapon, Sarah’s earlier works focused on armed struggles, striving to show the world Africa’s fight for liberation. At the same time reflecting the everydayness of life during the independence movements. Everyone has her or his role in the resistance, as strategist, foot soldier distributing pamphlets, runner of vital information, watchman, mothers protecting their sons in hiding, revealing secrets that put their own lives at risk, all indicative of the myriad ways that women actively participate in the struggle. Employing the camera as a cultural and political weapon continued throughout her cinematic journey, reflected in all of her films and the choice of themes.
 
Henda describes her parents’ relationship as a great love story, the love that Sarah and Mario had for each other and how it extended to their struggle towards African independences. Hence, there was a parallel journey at the same time as artists, filmmaker, poet, writer, somewhere in that was also a love story, which perhaps lays, untold, in the interstices of Sarah’s story. And that love story extended to the entire family. Sarah instilled in Annouchka and Henda, the attitude that as a family they were all in the struggle, the exigencies of a family of both artists and activists required sacrifice and endurance.
 
Their story reflects the cultural, social and political journey of a family-in-the-struggle, how through Sarah and Mario’s commitment to each other and the struggle, the family itself was strengthened, even in Mario’s physical absence.
 
 
Filmmaking at the intersection of the arts
 

“I cannot imagine a film without music and text, they are very important.”
 
“My images are poetic because I need this. I have never made a film without first going to the Louvre or some other museum.”
 
“I see beauty everywhere, even in the prison. I was there to make a documentary about Damas and I saw the prison and fell in love with it. I thought that the poem would go very well with that image.”

 
Sarah’s work represents the politics of art, at the intersection of music, literature, poetry, song, theater, paintings. Her repertoire of portraits of artists includes of course Aimé Cesaire, as well as Leopold Senghor, Toto Bissainthe, Assia Djebar, Christiane Diop of Présence Africaine, Edouard Glissant, to name a few African and Diasporan artists who were during their life or continue to be socially, politically and socially engaged through their art. Her film Leon G. Damas, is a compelling example. As the voice of Damas recites his poem “Nameless nights”, Paul Robeson's voice sings “There’s a man going round taking names”, and these powerful audial metaphors accompany the equally formidable symbol of a prison—of subjugation. Damas’ nameless nights, Robeson's man taking names, juxtaposed to images of enslavement—a startling contrast to Sarah Maldoror’s journey, towards the freedom of rebirth from the name-giving act of Maldoror—and her cinema for liberation.   
 
 
 
Beyond Borders
 

“I’m against all forms of nationalism…Nationalities and borders between countries have to disappear. Besides this, the color of a person’s skin is of no interest to me. What’s important is what that person is doing.”
 
“I will not say, I feel Guadeloupian, African, French, wherever I am, it suits me. I agree with Césaire: today, there is no race, there are people.”

 
Sarah Maldoror’s words highlight her universalistic world view. At the start of her renaissance, she intermingled with people throughout Africa and the Diaspora. Her initial border crossing took her to Africa, then to study filmmaking in Moscow, and back to Africa. Upon her return to France, her films and the people with whom she engaged at the intersection of culture, politics and art, continued to reflect her idea of a world beyond borders, race and ethnicity. While her films that focused on African liberation struggles and her film portraits of artists and intellectual from Africa and the Diaspora are well known, she also focused on works about other artists and activists, such as Louis Aragon, Paul Claudel, Alberto Carlisky, Vlady, among others.
 
 
Intergenerational dialogue
 
In the short film Scala Milan A.C., an intergenerational dialogue develops between a group of youth and the jazz musician Archie Shepp, who introduces them to music, to jazz. While they are mainly interested in going to Milan because of its soccer team, Shepp opens their world to the idea of also exploring theater and art. A veritable intergenerational project with Sarah as director and Agnès Varda as producer.
 
Scala Milan A.C. combines all the arts: theater, music, film, dance, while presenting a socially-committed message--that beyond the soccer dreams of the working-class youth, Milan is also a site of culture, the opera for instance. One finds many of the ideas that Sarah has advocated: being prepared for the unexpected, educating the youth to appreciate the arts, the intersection of the arts, as well as a continuation of how she raised her daughters.
 
 
Continuing Sarah’s legacy
 
Sarah Maldoror leaves to the world a vast repository of information and materials in the form of films, papers, documents, letters, posters, books, and of course there are other treasures in this trove of archival materials. Since Sarah’s passing, her eldest daughter, Annouchka has taken on the full-time duties of the guardian of the temple. Which requires organizing projects for exhibition, interviewing in order to promote Sarah’s works. And of course, the immeasurable time devoted to classifying, sorting, cataloguing. There is also the heritage of Mario de Andrade. So, it’s about a couple, these two people who came together and worked together, but they both individually have their own legacy. The Friends of Sarah Maldoror and Mario de Andrade, created in 2019 and located in Saint-Seine-Denis, brings the two together, as a structure designed to safeguard both of these legacies.

 
Text drawn from diverse published interviews with Sarah Maldoror, Annouchka de Andrade and Henda Ducados.

*Sarah Maldoror during Masterclass moderated by Brigitte Rollet at the BNF. Francophone African Women Filmmakers: 40 years of cinema (1972-2012)" - Paris, 23-24 November 2012.2012)

A Handbook of Women Filmmakers in Kenyan Cinema

A Handbook of Women Filmmakers

in Kenyan Cinema

 
A Handbook of Women Filmmakers in Kenyan Cinema seeks to situate scholarship and contributions of women filmmakers in Kenya and global film studies. It espouses diverse methodologies, critical tools, and theoretical perspectives in interrogating women filmmakers in the country.

This ground-breaking book is edited by Dr. Susan Gitimu Lecturer at Kenyatta University and Women in Film Awards Director (WIFA) as well as Dr. Charles Kebaya Senior Lecturer at Machakos University. The edited volume aims to bring together critical works focusing on women filmmakers in Kenyan cinema. The book is envisaged as a comprehensive volume comprising analyses of film oeuvres of various women filmmakers, essays on women film directors, producers, actresses, and scriptwriters. The volume transcends traditional approaches of looking at films made by women filmmakers as ‘feminist’ cinema but focuses on various issues articulated and canvassed by women filmmakers.

The book chapter contributors presented their chapters during a 3-day conference held at Norfolk Hotel on 3rd -5th April 2024. The conference was organized with the support of BTF, WIFA and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), through the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

 

Source: Women in Film Awards Kenya (Facebook)

Also visit the website: Beyond the Film: https://beyondthefilm.org
 

Carolyn Khamete Mango. The presence of women in the Kenyan film industry: applying postcolonial African feminist theory. PhD thesis. 2023

Carolyn Khamete Mango.

The presence of women in the Kenyan film industry: applying postcolonial African feminist theory

PhD thesis, University of Glasgow

2023

https://theses.gla.ac.uk/83403/

ABSTRACT
In this study, I examine the presence of Kenyan women in the film industry through the lens of postcolonial African feminism. Situating the study in this theoretical framework heightened the awareness that ideologies of womanhood and struggles against gender oppression intersect and cannot be analysed without considering the contextualisation of womanhood. Postcolonial African feminist theory reflects that issues that affect women in each place and time are different (former colonies and western regions). This study explores and uses the afro feminist lens to analyse the responses by Kenyan women filmmakers to comment on filmmaking in Kenya. The film industry offers an important arena where manifestations of African feminism can be explored, as espoused by the women filmmakers in this study: Matrid Nyagah, Jinna Mutune, Ng’endo Mukii, Wanuri Kahiu, Judy Kibinge, Dommie Yambo-Odotte, and Anne Mungai.

By adopting a qualitative research design using face-to-face semi-structured interviews, I examined the filmmakers’ career paths, motivations, perceptions, challenges, and barriers to getting into and remaining in a male-dominated industry.

The thesis reveals that the level of Kenyan women’s representation in the film industry on the global scene was proof that the women were empowered, competent, talented, and able to tell their stories through their lived experiences.

The study also identifies barriers and challenges that impede their reach to a wider audience. Key among them were the lack of proper film schools in Kenya that teach the requisite content, the ongoing patriarchal system, the lack of defined film culture, a lack of a government policy on film, lack of government support, lack of funding, and poor marketing and distribution channels, among others that seem to truncate the full potential of women in the film industry.

I argue that Kenyan women filmmakers have excelled, given an excellent account of the stories they tell from their lived experiences. These filmmakers’ films not only deal with women’s issues, Africa, war, famine, disease, and the girl child alone but also seem to focus on neo-feminism (as defined by Obioma Nnaemeka) and tackle subjects on sexuality, female emancipation, mother-daughter relationships, HIV/AIDS, drugs, science and technology, post- election violence and terrorism. Neo-feminism offers space for women filmmakers to work alongside men since it advocates for negotiating with them to achieve hard ideals.

The study found that though women in the Kenyan film industry did not agree they were working within a feminist framework, they objected to the western attitude toward feminism. It is also found that whereas some of the women filmmakers trained locally, the training they received abroad contributed to their being better filmmakers. Indeed, the Kenyan film industry has offered mixed signals as regards supporting its women filmmakers. While the government has faltered, the women filmmaker's grit and sense of purpose have helped them stamp their presence in the film industry both locally and internationally. Also, the study revealed that despite the important role women filmmakers play in the film industry, there was a lack of support from the government. However, family members continued to provide both financial and emotional support to the women filmmakers to live up to their dream. In addition, the lack of a national film policy to regulate the film industry meant that gender was not mainstreamed in it. Women filmmakers continue to negotiate for space through their passion, supporting and mentoring each other, recognising other women’s efforts in the industry through film awards and establishing funding opportunities specifically for women but also for men.