Chef!
Cameroon / France,
1999, 61 min
Shown in 1999
CREDITS
- dir
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Jean-Marie Téno
- prod
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Jean-Marie Téno
- cam
-
Jean-Marie Téno
- editor
-
Christiane Badgley
- prod co
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Les Films du Raphia (France); Raphia Films Production (Cameroon)
- source
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Films de Rophia, 26, rue Pierre Semard, 92320 Chatillon, France. FAX: 33-1-4092-0016
-
COMMENTS
Screened with Konaté’s Gift. Jean-Marie Téno in person.
OTHER
While Jean-Marie Téno is documenting a cultural event, he inadvertently becomes witness to some popular justice being meted out to a teenaged boy whose life is at risk for stealing a hen and four chicks. Then he happens upon a note listing the husband’s rule of law within the household. These incidents encourage him to embark upon a sustained reflection on the inequalities in Cameroon, a country where the widespread cult of the chief has become a cynical caricature of its traditional African concept. Using handheld cameras and incorporating documentary footage from the 1991 pro-democracy uprisings, Téno draws a biting portrait of the corruption, violence and misery which form the real triumvirate that rules political and personal lives in his home country. Chief! is part of the growing criticism by vanguard African filmmakers of the role played by modern African governments, coupled with the complaisance of the people, in shaping the continent’s current political climate.
—Marlene Friis
FACTOID #217
A sporadic SFIFF tradition, fashion shows are lighthearted affairs that help raise funds for the Festival. In 1968, Oakland designer Richard Tam mounted a show at the Fairmont Hotel that attracted high society; the Examiner commented that the show ’combined Tam’s simple daytime elegance with his almost theatrical evening gowns.’
