WHY THE FISHERMAN’S DIARY IS BEST CAMEROONIAN FILM 2020

                             Movie title: “Fisherman’s Diary

 Duration:2H‘

        Production Company: Kang Quintus Production

             SCREENWRITER: Melvin Mbuh Proxy

   CINEMATOGRAPHER: Etta Rene

   ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: Nkanya Nkwai

                            Producer: Kang Quintus

                       DIRECTOR: Enah John scout

Since the Taliban targeted Malala for her advocacy for girls’ education, she has become known globally for promoting girls’ schooling around the world, for which she won the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize. “She is not defined by the awards she won nor the gunshot she survived; she has earned the title of hero through her selfless devotion to a life of work for equal education and her generous actions in using her platform to fight for peace, equality and education, which inspire others to never abandon their dreams for humanity”.

It was probably based on this premise that the story writer Enah Johnscout/Director and screen writer Melvin Mbuh developed a narrative whose uniqueness triggers the minds of most filmmakers who have had the opportunity to appreciate another dimension of Aristotle’s five arc narrative structure in Cameroon’s contemporal cinema.  Whatever their intention was, the narrative met its objectives of educating, informing and entertaining the mammoth crowed that attended projection at Palais des Sports at Ecran Noirs on friday the 06/11/2020 in Yaounde coinciding with a very historic day in the history of Cameroon, marking the day our current president ascended to power some thirty eight years ago. Could this be a confirmation of supremacy for the cast and crew of this mater piece? The gods certainly approved this recognition  at last nights  closing ceremony at the Yaounde conference center with the awards of  “Best film  of the year” with its associated best actress of the year whose movie theme coincides with the current educational setbacks we have been going through for four years counting now.

Honestly speaking the approach the filmmakers took to advocate for the education of the girl child may have been redundant in other movies but the movie’s stylistics and anthropology within the narrative out ways every limitation within the narrative structure. This puts the screen writer on the leeway in the mastery in screenplay development.

Fisherman’s Diary could be referring to the numerous setbacks recorded by the antagonist Kang Quintus who triples as the producer/EP of the movie whom through his former experiences about schooling from his late wife (Onyama Laura) and later transfer the aggression to her daughter Eka (Faith Fidel)  further influenced by the way of life of his community due to ignorance and stack illiteracy thinks the place of the girl child/woman is in the kitchen and serving a man as a wife in their routine community coastal lifestyle.

The presence of some key cameo characters like Ramsy Noah from Nigeria and Daphney Njie didn’t only add the required attention needed by the makers of the film; it also emphasizes the importance of the role they played in the fight against education of the girl child. Despite some shortcomings registered at some points within the especially music contradictions that doesn’t match with the ethno sociological setting and visual consistency of the movie which I profoundly recommend a rescore to better contextualize the sound to better give meaning to the overall narrative.From the exposition, inciting moment, climax, falling action and denouement of the movie, we see a gradual drift from Eka’s father to an antagonist when she realizes her passion for education. Fueled by Eka’s uncle’s (Chinepoh Corson) greed to resolve his debt, Eka’s father falls into his brothers trap to give her 13year old daughter in marriage. This comes shortly after the school mistress (Damo Damaris) ignorantly informs Eka’s dad about her brilliance after an encounter with Eka peeping behind her class during which she unconsciously answered a question meant for the children she was teaching. It is at this point that the protagonist Eka (Faith Fidel) undergoes molestation from his father and chooses despite all the threats from her father and uncle to forcefully learn from the school mistress in her house. Despite many threats she received in the process and her love for Eka and an advocate for children education she braved all odds to encourage the young Eka.

Damo Damari’s outstanding interpretation of her character could only be judged by its originality and consistency as was in the filmmaker’s minds. Her switches from English to Pidgin English along the narrative while retaining the required character traits at each point could only come from the moulding of a great arts director in the person of Nkanya Nkwai. The fill of his influence in the characters profile couldn’t have been different all along the narrative which gave meaning to each character persona. An outstanding prove is the complete transformation of an actor’s already known traits to a new persona in a narrative like that of (Neba Godwill) who played the role of the Muslim to whom Eka’s uncle handed her to married in exchange of his debt.The director’s (Enah Johnscout) perspective about the Fisherman’s Diary couldn’t have been felt anywhere above successful margins. He was able to use the resources put at his disposal to bring verisimilitude on the screen through perfect mise en scene, character directions and excellent choices of setting, locations and above all cast choices. This proves his uniqueness in every project he handles and thus uplifts his artistic prowess in this particular masterpiece. The solid motion pictures engulfed in a mélange of cinematic juxtapositions of still, moveable and undulating camera movements within this movie distinguishes Etta Rene as an experienced don in cinematography in Africa. Thus the technical crew including the creative aspects and special effect makeup (Sunshine Chinedu) succeeded in transforming and contextualizing the characters physical appearances to match the setting at each stage of the movie. (Diba Bleak) succeeded to isolate outstanding elements from the dailies to mount the so much work the director, cinematographer, actors and technical team put into the project to extract the master piece we are proud of today.One thing stands out clear about the Fisherman’s Diary after watching, it addresses a global issue with pertinent issues from an African perspective and further uplifts the Cameroonian cinema in a new era and exposes the rich multicultural values embedded in the arts of film making. Moreover, the movie’s intrinsic value can’t be over emphasized, from the quality of cast, crew, production quality and post production team, it ignites anticipations about the movies budget thus its high production value. Interestingly, Ecran Noir 2020s Jury must have carefully analyzed these key aspects as I have vividly done before awarding the Fisherman’s diary the best Film of the year not leaving out the tantalizing overall performance of Faith Fidel (Eka) whose walk into the industry could only be compared with the world requirement of who a screen actor is defined thus crowning her best actress of the year. Godiaz fongwa’s role in this production couldn’t be swept beneath the carpet as he proves himself not only as the Unit production Manager in the Fisherman’s Diary; he played the protagonist in Stephany Tum’s Saving Mbango which has earned him the title of the Best Actor at the 24^th edition of Ecran Noir.                                                                                                 By Tanwie Elvis De dadies