The disappearance of the President of Cameroon few days before the elections is a sign that the "specter" has taken over. Young people are becoming restless, Old people are now telling, intellectuals are more and more debating, prisoners are planning, women feel like resisting…
Why are all the unemployed youth riding moto-taxis? Why are babies being stolen in public hospitals? Why no local hero still has no name on the street and no monument? Why is such a beautiful country in so much despair? Why has the old president never been to Soweto, nor to Harlem?
These are the different faces of 42 years of the same regime revealed by "the specter" The story of succession, the story of independence, the story of revolution, the story of killing and death, the story of betrayal, the story of the people, the story of power… in one specific country… Cameroon.
Because Africa is not a country, because the whole continent's story can't be the story of misery, poverty and diseases, the challenge is to get the media not just to tell the continent's story differently, but to tell a different story. One country at a time, looking at the contradictions and the hope through stories of the people and their imagination.
THE PRESIDENT is an attempt to reinvent the genre not just by mixing fiction and reality but also by artistic treatment in form and imagery.

Film must use its aesthetic and narrative potential to play a role in the African democratic process.
The film takes shape around activism, but without losing its light touch. It asks questions about the responsibility of those in power. "The President" is an allegory about the men who run Africa. We know they all like to see themselves as wild beasts - panther, crocodile, lion - if not as gods of Africa. The President tries to clear a place for film in the arena of African politics, where truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.


Cameroon / Germany · 2013 · Docufiction · Color · 120'

A film by Jean-Pierre Bekolo

starring Gérard Essomba, Valéry N'Dongo, Général Valsero, Mathias Eric Owona Nguini


Director''s note
After the Arab spring, we're still waiting for black Africa to rebel. But heads of State who have been in power for decades will not go easily. Film must use its aesthetic and narrative potential to play a role in the African democratic process.
The film takes shape around activism, but without losing its light touch. It asks questions about the responsibility of those in power. THE PRESIDENT is an allegory about the men who run Africa. We know they all like to see themselves as wild beasts - panther, crocodile, lion - if not as gods of Africa. The President tries to clear a place for film in the arena of African politics, where truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.

Directing
Jean-Pierre Bekolo

Based on
original screenplay

PRODUCTION
* Jean-Pierre Bekolo SARL / B.p.5491 immeuble bekolo&partners, Yaoundé
* Weltfilm / Fritz-Riedel-Str. 2| D-10407 Berlin

Shooting format
Yaounde - Douala, Cameroon

Shooting start date
12/2011

Expected completion date
09/2012

Budget
204'534 Euro

Financing in place
50'000 Euro

Production Company''s Profile
The Cameroon-based company Jean-Pierre Bekolo S.a.r.l. is involved in production and co-production, training, distribution, conception, writing, broadcasting, sales and marketing of musical, audiovisual, literary, artistic, digital and film product.


____________________

IT
Camerun · Colore · 120'

Regia
Jean-Pierre Bekolo

Produzione
* Jean-Pierre Bekolo SARL / B.p.5491 immeuble bekolo&partners, Yaoundé
* Weltfilm / Fritz-Riedel-Str. 2| D-10407 Berlin

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DE

Dokufiktion, 63 Min, Kamerun/ Deutschland 2013

Buch& Regie: Jean-Pierre Bekolo
Schnitt: Annette Muff/ Jean-Pierre Bekolo
Producer: Kristina Konrad

Produktion: Jean-Pierre Bekolo sarl/ weltfilm Berlin