Best Short Film in Central Africa

The 29 minute story braves all criteria, making it to the top during the competition at the Ecrans Noirs film festival’s 23^rd edition, at the Yaounde congress hall. The film La Marche is directed by Yadia Mor-Jougan, a Cameroonian film maker, screenwriter, graphic designer and teacher. After the jury’s deliberations, it was one out of the 24 prices awarded on Saturday July 20, 2019 to professionals of African cinema in general and Cameroonian in particular. The plot is about a kid, Talom, who is abandoned to himself as he sails through life’s difficulties, with the loss of his parents. Wandering the streets of Yaounde, he comes across a host of hostile and distant persons who try to make his life more difficult than it already is, as he seeks to find his deceased parents. Talom is viewed by onlookers as an outcast and then ends up losing hope in life and happiness. Generally tagged as street children, the author seeks to portray the kind of life these young beings live. As concerns the author, he studied history and economics of cinema at the Yaounde University and is presently a PhD candidate in film economics, and a monitor in the performing arts and cinematographic section at the Yaounde I and Bamenda universities. La marche is one of the bunch of short films credited to Yadia. A few are La Noese, Les Poules and Entre chair et soul. A host of other categories like 10 days for 1 film, screen of honour, international documentary and special jury prize, amid others, were at the order of the day. The awards were handed respectively to Joseph Raphael Akama, Cheik Oumar Sissoko, Joel Zito Araujo (Brazil) and Peter Sedufia (Ghana). This annual film festival brings together actors, producers, screenwriters, directors, and various experts and film enthusiasts in and out of Cameroon, with just one aim; valorising African cinematography. Suzanne Nanyonge Legend: film photo cover