Acting as therapy for personal and social development. Get the full PDF

Paul Animbom Ngong ……………………………………………………………..1-13

For centuries gone, man has been constantly involved in acting/playing either knowingly or not. This somehow entertaining/pleasurable and spontaneous activity combines functions beyond its simplistic nature. In this light, entertainment, information, education and therapy are usually combined in a single activity in which partakers seek common outcomes. It however remains unclear how acting can be used as a therapeutic activity for personal and social development. This article addresses these perspectives through an exploratory approach of some practical considerations, to show that acting is, can, and should be used for personal and social development of persons in different contexts. It comes out of the study that acting is a form of language that facilitates expression or communication in the therapeutic space and gives the participants the possibility to understand their situations and interact better with the context. When participants involve in acting/playing, they are given the possibility to express themselves, develop their creative skills, interrelate, interact and use their imagination to dramatize situations.

Keywords: acting; therapy; personal and social development.

Storytelling and family therapy in Bole Butake’s Family Saga. Get the full PDF

Jean Robert Tchamba …………………………………………………………….15-30

This paper examines the therapeutic functions of narratives as used in traditional African context, and the use of storytelling as a tool for family therapy, from the perspective of narrative therapy, as displayed in Bole Butake’s Family Saga. It shows the process used by the playwright to showcase the African storytelling tradition in its cathartic (thus therapeutic) role, and its effectiveness in solving individual and group problems in a family context. It further demonstrates how the specific therapeutic setup is put in place in the play: stories are usually told for the healing benefit of the listener only, the storyteller being usually considered sane, and the listener the one in want. In Family Saga, both parties are in want. This accounts for the two-approach analysis used in this paper: the narrative therapy to examine the effect of stories on the story teller, and the therapeutic functions of traditional storytelling in traditional societies to understand the healing
process in the listener. It comes to the conclusion that Family Saga is a brilliant demonstration of reconciliation process in a crisis context.

Keywords: Storytelling – therapeutic functions – traditional griot – narrative therapy – Family Saga – Reconciliation.

Partnership and accountability in development initiatives: a Theatre For Development diagnosis of the Tole Tea Project. Get the full PDF

Patricia Nkweteyim ……………………………………………………………….31-47

Partnership and accountability are entrenched in development policies especially with the much drive for sustainability. Partnership assures the collaboration of players in any development project as well as advocates fair treatment of all stakeholders. The reality of these concepts which guarantee the possibility of local control and joint ownership of all the processes of any project is mostly in theory. In practice it is matched by unequal power relations especially in projects established in rural areas. Using the Participatory Action Research (PAR) as well as the Theatre for Development methodology on the privatized Cameroon Tea Estates (CTE), this article contends that partnership and accountability are vital development concepts for initiatives that have the people at heart and aim at sustainability. It argues that the difficulties that the Tole people are facing today and the threat on sustainability of the CTE are due to the non- or minimal existence of a good development plan. It is the hypotheses of this paper that accountability is engendered when partnership is established at the very beginning of a project and when there is accountability, the participation of all is automatic. Secondly, the participatory engagement of all the stakeholders will lead to sustainable fairness for all as well as the sustainability of the project.

Keywords: Partnership, Accountability, Development, PAR, TfD, Sustainability.

Traditional directorial techniques and cinematic virtual reality: compatibility drive. Get the full PDF

Aguugo, Barthelomew Gerald ……………………………………………………49-57

The popularity of Cinematic Virtually Reality has drastically appreciated in recent years. Obviously, this omnidirectional medium, which gives the viewer the liberty to see a movie from various angles of choice, needs the adaptation of traditional film making techniques, hence, this paper seeks to provide new insight into how existing techniques could be adapted to create effective Cinematic Virtual Reality experiences, as well as develop directing techniques that are exclusively for this new medium. To elucidate on the concept of Notion of Presence and, the idea of viewers’ engagement and interaction with film and cinematic storytelling, the Cinematic Virtual Reality medium has been particularly put forward. The work concludes that directors should go beyond the ordinary in designing for productions by exploring the full immersive potentials of the Cinematic Virtual Reality as an evolving technology, in this era of experimentation and sophistication.

Keywords: directing; cinematic, virtual reality, immersive.

Films camerounais et exotisme occidental. Get the full PDF

Ekoumba Paul Aimé ………………………………………………………………58-77

L’emploi du fonds esthético-culturel occidental semble une constance dans les films camerounais. Dès lors, à partir de quels aspects l’exotisme occidental s’y manifeste-t-il et à quels besoins répond-il ? Cet article ambitionne d’étudier quelques films camerounais et la manière dont la problématique de l’exotisme occidental s’y révèle. Aussi, l’approche proposée se veut un croisement entre le régime esthétique de l’art tel que présenté par Jacques Rancière et la sémiotique du cinéma d’après Francesco Casetti. Deux niveaux de développement constituent l’ossature de l’argumentation. Le premier examine l’exotisation des systèmes signifiants. Le second quant à lui, met l’accent sur l’emprunt d’un mouvement cinématographique occidental, à savoir la Nouvelle Vague. Il en découle que ces divers emprunts au patrimoine culturel et esthétique occidental, contribuent à rendre efficacement compte de l’intelligibilité du texte filmique
camerounais d’une part, et d’autre part, à créer une démarcation esthétique entre les cinéastes.

Mots-clés : Cameroun, exotisme, Occident, esthétique, culture.

Digitalization and the democratization of filmmaking in Cameroon. Get the full PDF

Alasambom Nyingchuo …………………………………………………………..79-92

From the early 70s, the film sector in Cameroon has had a long history of obstacles in financing, management, production, distribution and exploitation. The insufficiency of training facilities, funding, distribution and exploitation avenues has seriously obscured the visibility of the film sector in the country. The advent of digitalization and new technologies of Information and communication (NTICs) however has opened up avenues for young enthusiastic Cameroonian filmmakers to acquire knowledge in almost every discipline of film production, and also provided new avenues for funding, commercialization, distribution, exploitation. This paper examined the different ways in which digitalization has influenced the film sector in Cameroon. Through interviews and Focus Group Discussions with Cameroonian filmmakers and cultural entrepreneurs, it became clear that digital technologies have greatly democratized filmmaking in the country by reducing production costs, as granting greater access for the youths to knowledge on arts management, funding and fundraising, production and distribution of films. Also, thanks to digitalization, several local television stations in Cameroon and Africa now exist, which specialize in the broadcast of African and regional films. The major conclusion is that digital technologies have contributed considerably to bridging the infrastructural gap in the Cameroon film sector, especially when it comes to training, production, management and distribution.

Key words: Cultural entrepreneur, filmmaker, digital technologies, intercultural exchange.

Etude de la correlation entre niveau de developpement et industrialisation du cinema et leçons pour les cinemas du Sud. Get the full PDF

Bell Yembel Jacques Merlin ……………………………………………………..93-114

Dans un contexte mondial où le visage du cinéma change selon qu’on se trouve dans les pays développés ou dans ceux en développement, ce travail, porté par l’hypothèse que le niveau d’industrialisation du cinéma dans un pays est tributaire de son niveau de développement, étudie la corrélation entre ce dernier et l’industrialisation du cinéma. Nous fondant sur la conception sociologique de la corrélation et grâce à l’exploitation de documents, nous arrivons, en dépit des quelques exceptions observées çà et là et qui confirment la tendance générale, à la conclusion que notre hypothèse de recherche est vérifiée ; autrement dit, que le niveau de développement influe sur la capacité d’un pays à industrialiser sa cinématographie.

Mots-clés :  corrélation, niveau de développement, industrialisation du cinéma.