Cameroon left this year with three special prizes at the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (Fespaco), the biggest film event in Africa, which closed its doors on Saturday 4 March .

The Paul Robeson Prize was awarded to Cyrielle Raingou for her feature documentary “The Spectre of Boko Haram” in the “Perspectives” section. The prize is worth two million CFA francs. In this documentary, which won the Golden Tiger award at the Rotterdam Festival (Netherlands), the Cameroonian director depicts, from the perspective of a child, the shadows left in the lives of the inhabitants by the atrocities committed by the terrorist group that has been operating in the Far North region for almost ten years.

The Ecobank Sembène Ousmane Prize and the Plan International de l’égalité aux filles Prize for combativity and innovation in favour of girls, each worth 5 million FCFA, were awarded to “The Planters Plantation” by Eystein Young Dingha. The young filmmaker’s feature film, best film at the last Écrans noirs, was in the running for the Étalon d’or de Yennenga, the supreme award of Fespaco. But it was the Tunisian Youssef Chebbi who won the coveted prize for his film “Ashkal”.

Cyrielle Raingou and Eystein Young Dingha thus saved Cameroon’s honour at this 28th edition. In 2021, Cameroonian cinema returned from Fespaco without a single prize.