Cameroon’s English-language film industry grew up in Buea, at the foot of Mount Cameroon. Then the region became a war zone. The films kept coming, from elsewhere.
Long before streaming, a generation of Anglophone Cameroonian filmmakers built an industry around Buea, in the South-West region. It borrowed the naming convention of Hollywood and Nollywood and called itself Collywood. Its films were shot on small budgets, sold on DVD and later uploaded to YouTube, and they found audiences across Anglophone Africa and in the diaspora.
Since 2016, the North-West and South-West regions have been the theatre of an armed conflict between separatist groups and the state. Filming on location became dangerous. Crews moved to Douala, Yaoundé and abroad.
What the article must document
- Displacement. How many production companies left, and where did they go?
- Economics. What did a Collywood film cost before, and what does it cost now?
- Distribution. With cinemas scarce, how do these films reach audiences: YouTube, WhatsApp networks, diaspora screenings, streaming platforms?
- Subject matter. Has the conflict itself become a subject, and at what risk to the filmmakers?
Why it belongs in an English edition
This is the part of Cameroon’s cultural economy that the French-language press covers least and that Anglophone readers know best. It is also a study in resilience: an industry that lost its home base and did not disappear.
Editorial caution
The conflict is politically sensitive and dangerous for the people involved. Filmmakers who speak should be able to choose anonymity. The piece must report the industry, not take sides in the war, and should be reviewed before publication for the safety of sources.
