Cameroon and France / 2007 / 90mins / Documentary / French and Bamileke

In the 1990s, thousands of young men began to disappear across Cameroon. Horrified by the turn-of-the-century events in her home country, Lewat’s documentary is about Cameroonian families who are victims of government disappearances and are still seeking to find out what happened to their loved ones.

Osvalde Lewat

Osvalde Lewat is an award-winning filmmaker who began making documentaries after several years as a journalist. She produced her first documentary, Upsa Yimoowin (The Pipe of Hope) in Toronto in 2000. The film denounces the sidelining of Native Americans. With Au-delà de la peine, Lewat tells the story of a prisoner who, after being sentenced to four years in jail for a minor offense, is imprisoned for thirty-three years. In her 2009 film, Black Business, Lewat addresses the question posed by Nigerian Nobel Laureate author Wole Soyinka: “They say Africans are not ready for democracy. So I wonder: have they ever been ready for dictatorship?” Lewat studied at Sciences Po in Paris. Since 2012, Levat's main focus has been on photography. Her work explores the idea of "otherness and ways of seeing". She has exhibited her work in Paris, the United States and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Learn More