On Set: “Bangui, Unité Spéciale” the new series shooting in Bangui

The shooting of the series ”Bangui, Unité Spéciale” started at the beginning of March 2021 in Bangui, the Central African capital. The series created and directed by Elvire Adjamonsi will address the thorny issue of violence against women. Although the contours of the script for this series are not yet known, it is known that the creator of the series was inspired by a series of unfortunate events that she experienced. According to information given by the website Images Francophones, it was in 2017 that she began to take an interest in this theme. At that time, while scouting for the documentary ”A Wa Be Africa”, she discovered the extent of the phenomenon of “gender-based violence”. “Girls as young as 13 or 14 were testifying about their condition as sexual slaves… The most shocking words were coming out of the mouths of these children. The most shocking words came out of the mouths of these children.” With this experience, she discovered that it was impossible to show the victims and so turned to fiction. Bangui, Unité Spéciale will be the first series for the woman who made a name for herself in 2010 with her short film La maudite and in 2013 with her feature film Sessi, which won the special mention of the jury at the Lumières d’Afrique festival in Besançon the same year.

For this series, director Elvire Adjamonsi has opted for a pan-African casting. Several big names are announced, the Central African Habi Touré (Aimé malgré lui-2012, River Hotel-2018), the Franco-Ivorian Tella Kpomahou, Joaquim Tivoukou who has been noticed in several series such as Barbershop (2017). On the Central African side, Philippe Bokoula, Thierry Messongo and Valentina Kpekabou will also play some key roles in the series.

This 10-episode series, co-written with Cameroonian Emery Noudjiep Tchemdjo, is a project supported by the Fonds Image de la Francophonie as part of the Clap ACP project. No release date has yet been announced.

Rostand Wandja