Activist filmmaking in Africa, with a focus on Cameroonian Jean-Marie Teno

The very concept of African filmmaking has itself been questioned by African filmmakers, and thus any attempt to define activist African filmmaking must certainly involve a good deal of circumspection. The idea that filmmaking can and should effect worthwhile change is surely one that is well-suited to a now global environment of formidable challenges. Having suggested that activist-oriented social justice films are prevalent in the context of African filmmaking, it is important to draw attention to the complexity of the motivating factors. The filmmakers’ desire to effect change is clearly often a significant element of the production process, but in some cases the relevant intentions emerge from a complex ecology where economic constraints are most easily counterbalanced by the pursuit of a specific kind of filmmaking opportunity. At the heart of the activism of African filmmaking in all its guises readers ultimately find a fundamental concern for basic human rights.