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Certainly the most anticipated Cameroonian film of the 2022 Ecrans Noirs festival, the film The Planter’s Plantation will be screened this Friday, October 07 at the Sita Bella room in Yaoundé. The director Young Dingha has agreed to show us his film in advance and exclusively and we took the opportunity to conduct an interview with him avoiding of course spoiler…
Ayila : Hello we are glad to have you for this interview. Can you tell us what motivate you to make this film?
Young Dingha : First of all, I particularly like to tell very authentic African stories. Stories that are out of the ordinary, stories that are different. I am a fan of the past . I had to dig into the past looking for the most appropriate story to tell and then one day this idea of The Planter’s Plantation came up and I finally made it. The Planter’s Plantation is a story that is far beyond what we see at the surface level . The Planter’s Plantation actually is the representation of what I think Africa was and is now. from colonialism to independence, to post colonialism and most importantly neocolonialism. So, it’s a topic I’m very much interested in because It feels like we are independent but at the same time it seems like the white man has never really left Africa. I was looking for the most appropriate and subtle way in which I could communicate that message.
Ayila : The movie starts in the 1st October 1961 which is in Cameroon, a special date why this choice?
Y.D. : What I would say about The Planter’s Plantation as a fact is I was telling a story which every African country can relate to. At the same time, Paying allegiance to my country of origin which is Cameroon. So, 1st October 1961 is a significant date for Cameroon but in the film it’s more of a day in an era that represents many African independence events that happened at the time . Cameroon inclusive. The story and it’s significant dates gives a pointer of the independence of many west Africa nations which mostly falls within that period of 1959-1962. So, I was paying allegiance to Cameroon because at some point you notice that I used 1st October 1961 as date but the flag was the two-states flag of 1972.
Ayila : Yes, I was going to talk about that point…
Y.D. : Yeah, it’s more about putting significant dates in Cameroon to pay allegiance to my country but at the same time I’m telling a universal African story that cuts across every African regions.
Ayila : Talking about this date of 1st October 1961, we know it was the independence of the English part of Cameroon but in the movie, we have de flag of 1972 with the two stars of the federal republic of Cameroon and we have a portrait of John Ngu Foncha, why did you choose to mix all that things. It’s like you want to rewrite the history of Cameroon…
“I want to use the story to bring out this nostalgic feeling of the past.”
Y.D. : No, I didn’t want to rewrite the history. At some point when we were filming that independence scene, somebody come and said “it’s historically inaccurate, the flag is inaccurate” and I responded “I’m not doing a documentary about Cameroon history. I’m doing a fictional film that can be set in any African country” but I am acknowledging my country Cameroon to make sure I represent those aspects that constitute Cameroonian history. 1st October 1961 is easily memorable and It I think it’s easy for people to remember that . To clarify I’m apolitical but at the same time I want people to remember that date and also remember that there was a time the two star flag existed. So, it’s just a historic symbolism of the time. And also, I want to use the story to bring out that nostalgic feeling of the past. For example , watching the movie and feeling or wishing you were alive at that time. So I thought It wise and important to represent those aspects of that period.
Ayila : Don’t you think that this mix of dates will be quite disturbing for the spectators?
Y.D. : I think every single person that will watch the move needs to first understand that this film is not a historical movie about Cameroon, it’s about a plantation , it is set somewhere in west Africa. That’s why in the movie we put it clear ‘’Somewhere in Africa”. So, it’s about the plantation not Cameroon but we are paying allegiance to the country where the movie was made.
Ayila : Going through the movie, it’s like you are telling us Africa is not really independent…
Y.D. : When I started this story I had a story idea about this plantation and I was asking myself what is the larger story I want to tell, why would somebody be interested about the plantation. What is the universal story that I want the world to listen to. So, I thought let me include other aspects that will make it universal because the issue of neocolonialism is a universal topic. The conversation we are raising about the movie is to look at the effect of neocolonialism and how Africans can fix this issue by working together instead of working against another.
Ayila : How did you cast your main actress?
Y.D. : Nimo Loveline is someone I have known for a while, she is a very powerful performer in terms of emotions especially with the kind of story I wanted to tell. So, I ran a close audition for her because I was very specific about who I wanted to cast. So, I wasn’t going to do a large casting. I did that for other characters but for Enanga, [the character played by Nimo Loveline, Edito’s Note], it was particular. So, the year before we shot, I called her and I gave her a monologue to do, she ran it and it was perfect. So, it was first of all because she is a talent which I recognize from the field. We worked on a couple of things and adding the fact that she is eloquent in speech and she is powerful in emotions.
Ayila : In the movie Enanga played by Loveline is full of anger, at time you can think that she is mad why did you choose this direction for the character?
Y.D. : Because I know what the end of the movie is. And to justify that end, she needed to have this urge amount of anger. And the bigger story which I’m talking about which is at the level of Africa, the level of Cameroon, the level of individuals. We realize that the agitation that goes on in Cameroon now is because of the anglophones that are agitating , ….the radical ones, the anger in them have made them to be unreasonable. The same thing in Africa with tribal wars, it’s always because somebody is refusing to be calm and reasonable and we end up with war situation and we are fighting each other. So, I was looking for a right way to develop that character in such a way that when she gets at that final scene of the movie people will know that it was by her own doing. So, people can see that when we fill like our right have been taken from us, the best way is not to go about it in a radical way, but to go about it in a subtler way.
Ayila : In the movie we have two surprises, Nkem Owoh very different from the characters he has played before and Lina Ike. How did you cast both of them?
Y.D. : For Nkem Owoh we were looking for an iconic actor. So, Nkem Owoh was for business and for his talent as well. We are looking for somebody who is iconic in the African film sense, and Nkem Owoh was just the ideal person that would make sense there. So, we just called him and contacted him, we gave him the script, he loved it and he came to play. And the thing that made him to like the script was the fact that he was not going to be him the same thing is doing in other movies, and he told me that on set when we were shooting the protest scene. And for Lina Ike, she is a very talented performer. She is actually the mother of Faith Fidel (Fisherman’s Diary). For the character Lina Ike plays in the movie, we originally had a male cast but I just wanted to do a film that cut accross gender. So she did the audition for that character and she did it right.
Ayila : What justify your choice in terms of the quality of images of the movie?
Y.D. : One of the other thing as a director I like, is to do thing my way. I don’t want to do things in a conventionnal. I wanted to do a movie where I do not have to force people visually to believe we are in the past by making the music as if is coming from a turn table player or making the images look old. I wanted people to watch this film and say “this is in the past” whitout forcing the past on them visually.
Ayila : Thanks you, I think after the publi release of the film we will be able to talk in more details of the movie.
Y.D. : Sure, Thank you !
Interview conducted by Rostand Wandja
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