Icarus Films: Featured Filmmakers

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"An original filmmaker of exquisite sensibility; one of the foremost filmmakers of creative nonfiction working right now." —The New Yorker

Rosine Mfetgo Mbakam grew up in a traditional family in Cameroon and decided to pursue a career in cinema at a young age. In 2000, she began studying film with the Italian non-governmental organization COE (Centro orientamento Educativo) in Yaoundé, where she learned cinematography, editing, and directing. She would go on to work on a number of films for the NGO.

In 2007, she left Cameroon for Brussels, where she enrolled at the Institut Supérieur des Arts (INSAS) to study film directing. After earning her diploma, she co-directed the short film YOU WILL BE MY ALLY, with Mirko Popovitch for the Belgian cultural co-operation organization Africalia asbl. The film is a portrait of Congolese artist Freddy Tsimba.

Mbakam founded Tandor Productions with Geoffroy Cernaix in 2014, and made her first personal documentary, THE TWO FACES OF A BAMILEKE WOMAN through the company. Released in 2017, it was an official selection in some 60 festivals, including IFFR Rotterdam, and won awards around the world.

Her second feature-length documentary, CHEZ JOLIE COIFFURE, was released in 2018. It had its world premiere at DOK Leipzig and has screened as an official selection at dozens of festivals. She quickly followed up with DELPHINE'S PRAYERS and co-directed PRISM along with Eléonore Yameogo and An van. Dienderen. PRISM premiered at the New York Film Festival in 2021.

Icarus Films is proud to distribute four films by Rosine Mbakam:

The Two Faces of a Bamileke Woman - Motivated by a desire to better understand her past, Rosine Mbakam returns to Cameroon after many years to interview her mother.
Chez Jolie Coiffure - Step inside a tiny underground hair salon and meet its charismatic owner, a Cameroonian immigrant named Sabine.
Delphine's Prayers - A portait of Delphine, a Cameroonian woman who turned to prostitution to support her family.
Prism - The hidden racism of cinematic technology is explored by three dynamic filmmakers in dialogue with one another.

Related Links:
Featured Filmmaker Index
Tandor Productions