Cameroon / 2012 / 20mins / Drama / English

In this gripping short drama, Domé, a young woman from Gabon who speaks flawless French, is apprehended at the airport on her way into Belgium. She says she’s a French citizen—a businesswoman on her way to meet with suppliers. Border control agents say she’s lying and traveling with a stolen passport. Shut in a bare interrogation chamber, Domé faces dehumanizing treatment from accusers, firmly answering the same questions over and over. While left on her own, she can hear cries coming from the next room. Trying to stave off deportation, Domé asks to use the bathroom. There, she carries out a traditional ritual—one which could cost her her life, or give her a chance at a new one. YOU WILL BE MY ALLY is an early work of Rosine Mbakam’s that already shows the themes which have come to inform the award-winning filmmaker’s career.

Rosine Mbakam

Rosine Mfetgo Mbakam grew up in a traditional family in Cameroon. She chose cinema very early, training in Yaoundé after learning about the Italian NGO, COE (Centro Orientamento Educativo) where, beginning in 2000 she was introduced to image making, editing and production. While there, she collaborated on and directed several films. After a meeting with Mactar Sylla in 2003, she joined the team of STV (Spectrum Television) where she directed and edited several audiovisual programmes. In 2007, she left Cameroon and enrolled at INSAS in Brussels for a training course. In 2014, she founded with Geoffroy Cernaix, Tandor Productions and directed The Two Faces of a Bamileke Woman, her first creative documentary. Mbakam’s 2019 Chez Jolie Coiffure, a documentary capturing the day-to-day lives and concerns of immigrant West African women in a small hair salon in Brussels, screened at several festivals and won the Spirit of the Festival Prize at Light Film Festival 2019. Her 2021 documentary, Delphine's Prayers, is an intimate and powerful portrait of a Cameroonian immigrant living in Brussels. The film won the Young Audience Award at Cinema du Réel 2021 and the Grand Prize at IndieLisboa 2021. Learn More