Cameroonian filmmakers are increasingly turning to Nigeria’s thriving Nollywood to revive their careers and reach wider audiences.
Cameroon’s film industry is plagued by poor distribution, marginalisation and a growing preference for foreign talent.
While the African film industry broadly struggles with distribution, Cameroon’s challenges are compounded and intensified by linguistic divides, civil unrest, and economic constraints.
Eystein Young Dingha, a Cameroonian filmmaker who has witnessed the sector’s highs and lows, acknowledged that these challenges have driven many of his peers across the border.
For filmmakers like Stephanie Tum, a renowned Cameroonian actress and producer, staying afloat in the local industry has become increasingly difficult. Recently, she shot a couple of YouTube films in Lagos and plans to produce more in the coming months.
With a population that is roughly 80 percent Francophone and 20 percent Anglophone, Cameroon’s internal divisions have long influenced its creative industries. According to multiple reports, the Anglophone regions continue to face systemic marginalisation and oppression, especially since the outbreak of civil unrest in 2016 that has claimed thousands of lives and displaced many.
This linguistic divide is deeply embedded in the film sector, where Anglophone filmmakers often find themselves sidelined in favour of their Francophone counterparts. Tum noted, “Francophone platforms often reject movies made by Anglophone filmmakers, forcing us to either assimilate or find markets outside Cameroon.”
Itambi Delphine, a veteran filmmaker with over 19 years of experience, recently shared this frustration, noting that even Francophone platforms like Canal+ favour content from French-speaking filmmakers over Anglophone ones.
“The French platforms ask us to film in French, which doesn’t always suit our stories,” she said.
Delphine recalled a short-lived period of hope when Netflix explored the Cameroonian market between 2020 and 2023. During that window, production budgets surged from 5 million CFA to 40 million CFA, sparking optimism for a renewed industry.
“The growth was slow, but there was potential,” she stated. However, when Netflix failed to turn a profit, it withdrew, leaving the industry in chaos.
“After Netflix pulled out, we were left not knowing the next step,” Delphine explained. Investors and practitioners struggled to adapt, and the momentum fizzled out.
With no local Netflix aggregator, Cameroonian filmmakers now rely on Nigerian companies like FilmOne, deepening their dependence on Nigeria and limiting their ability to license content or monetise their work independently.
Credit: The Cable
