“Buried” the new film by Françoise Ellong in Theatres on 27 November

Buried never ends with the official selections in film festivals all over the world. This Cameroonian film directed by Françoise Ellong Gomez has been selected in no less than 7 international festivals since the beginning of the second half of 2020. Among the most notable festivals where the film has been screened are the: The Durban International Film Festival, the International Festival of Films from the  African Diaspora in Paris, , Out of Africa film festival in Kenya, the Ecrans Noirs Festival in Cameroon. A membership which can certainly be explained by the theme addressed in this film: paedophilia. For some years now, paedophilia scandals have been multiplying in the world, very often revealing the hideous face of people and institutions (Church) supposedly embodying morality.

Buried plunges us into the story of 5 young people who find themselves in a wasteland trying to bury their past. Quite a programme! These 5 people, played by Anurin Nwunembom, Lucie Memba, Emy Dany Bassong, Assala Kofanne and Denis Etouka were all or almost all abused in their childhood by “Dady”, the priest in charge of the orphanage where they lived. After several years of separation, they find themselves once again mourning the death of their tormentor. At the end of the funeral, Ndewa, played by Anurin Nwenembom, decides to take 3 of his former comrades to a wasteland so that together they can try to bury their common past. Sitting on a few fortunes mats, the 4 friends begin to talk about their past and their traumatic experience with “dady”. The fifth of the gang, played by Denis Etouka (whose performance is to be saluted) will join them later on with an introduction as intriguing as the character he plays. The film is a closed-door open-air show that relies heavily on dialogue. The director and screenwriter of this film tackles paedophilia in the church and presents 5 traumatised and destroyed people, who in a desperate and perhaps clumsy attempt to separate themselves from these demons that still haunt them today.

Françoise Ellong tells an anecdote from the filming of Enterrés

With this rather psychological theme that reveals hidden traumas, Buried  makes us rethink NEK, one of the Director’s first short films, which featured an SS soldier awaiting execution who painfully recalls his past life. Except that in this ex-soldier’s past he had a choice, whereas in the case of Bureid each of his children were victims. For this second feature film, Françoise Ellong confirms her commitment to strong and sometimes disturbing social issues. But where NEK or W.A.K.A (her first feature film) excelled by a certain narrative and technical research, Buried opts for a technical and narrative minimalism which can be confusing at first glance. A few shadowy points remain and in the end many unanswered questions arise. Questions that will certainly help to continue the debate around the film after its screenings. Buried remains a film to be seen for its thematic and aesthetic proposal.

Even if the film has already been screened in Cameroon during the Ecrans Noirs 2020 festival where it received a special mention from the Juy and the Yarha 2020 festival where it received the price of the best director, Buried will be officially released on 27 November 2020 in Douala at the Canal Olympia Cinema in Bessengué. As a prelude to this premiere, a major advertising and media campaign has begun, with several interviews with the Director and Actors on numerous local and international media.

The film team opted for a rather dynamic and original promotion with the aim of arousing the interest of as many people as possible. The original soundtrack of the film has also been put online for the great pleasure of informed cinephiles. The film soundtrack is available on Amazon Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, Deezer, iTunes and several other platforms.

For those who are in Cameroon, tickets are already on presale at the Canal Olympia cinema in Bessengué.

Rostand Wandja

 

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