Letter from Global Voice Ally Advisor Jean-Marie Teno:

Dear Supporters,

I am finishing the construction of a building in Bandjoun (West Cameroon) which will allow us to host more edition of the Patrimoines-Heritage workshop, where young filmmakers will be able to reside while the training takes place. It will be a house for learning other forms of local crafts, and will also accommodate a library for African cinema, documentary films, as well as my films and the films from the Patrimoines-Heritage workshop. This place will be called La'a LOM, “the village forge.”

I need you, dear supporters, for the last efforts before the building is operational, for the green energy autonomy of the place, the waste disposal, the drinking water supply, the basic equipment to lodge the trainees, the trainers and to arrange spaces of work, development of projects and screenings. I would like to raise the sum of 20,000 euros through this link to: Crowdfunding.

Jean-Marie Teno smiling below:

Jean-Marie continues his narrative about his history:

In the 1970s, Ousmane Sembène said that cinema is a weapon to conquer our dignity, to rebuild our identities destroyed during colonization. For this, I felt concerned and I wanted to make films, African films.


In my 35-year career, I have made a dozen documentary films and fiction films: Bikutsi Water blues, Africa, I will fleece you..., Clandestine, Chief!, A Trip to the Country, The Colonial Misunderstanding, Chosen and many more.


In 2015, while taking part as an expert at a documentary workshop in Cameroon, I was surprised by the subjects that the trainees proposed, sympathetic subjects, yes, but what was happening around them was ignored. That is when I had the idea to initiate the Patrimoines-Heritage project, to share knowledge and to encourage the trainees to take on local issues. Already, there have been 3 editions of Patrimoines-Heritage, the one of 2017, 2018, 2021 and the one for 2023 is in preparation. From these editions, 17 short documentary films from 12 to 26 minutes were produced and 11 of them directed by women. These workshops took place in Bandjoun Station (West Cameroon) in 2017, Espace Gacha in Bangoulap (West Cameroon) in 2018 and Villa Santa Barbara in Yaounde (Central Cameroon) in 2021.

Thank you, Jean-Marie Teno

French link to Crowdfund

Please support our dear friend and ally, Jean-Marie Teno!