MAMBAR PIERRETTE

MAMBAR PIERRETTE
Rosine Mbakam
Cameroon / Belgium | 2023 | Original version with English subtitles | 93 min

SUN 16 NOV
16:00 CITY SINEMA TRANSTOPIA

Over the past ten years, Cameroonian filmmaker Rosine Mbakam (CHEZ JOLIE COIFFURE, DELPHINE’S PRAYERS) has made a name for herself with sensitive, observational documentary portraits of African women.

At the center of her feature film debut is the talented seamstress Pierrette, who runs a small workshop in the Cameroonian city of Douala. As a single mother who also cares for an elderly parent, she struggles to survive financially. Her life is filled with other challenges as well. One day, while taking a motorcycle taxi after work, she is attacked by robbers who steal all her savings—just before the start of the new school year. To make matters worse, heavy rain floods both her apartment and her shop. Yet, instead of despairing, she faces every setback with calm and relies on the bonds she has built with the women in her community.

ROSINE MBAKAM, born in Cameroon, first became involved in film through the Italian NGO COE. In Douala, she worked as an editor, director, and presenter for the television station STV. She completed her studies at the Belgian film school INSAS with the award-winning short film TU SERAS. In 2014, she co-founded Tândor Productions in Belgium with Geoffroy Cernaix, and in 2018 she established the production company Tândor Films in Cameroon, where she also initiated Caravane Cinéma to distribute African films in Cameroon. In 2021, she co-directed PRISME, a film about filming black skin. Her feature film MAMBAR PIERRETTE debuted in the international competition at TIFF Toronto.