We can only speak of a real national production since the mid-1970s, even if in the 1960s some filmmakers originating from the Cameroon have worked in France. A delay due to the fact that, although not among the poorest in Africa, the country lives in conditions of severe economic and cultural backwardness, as well as endemic political crisis. This situation is in turn the legacy of a colonial rule that lasted over seventy years, and of serious internal divisions. The Cameroon was in fact German protectorate from 1884 and, after the defeat of Germany in the First World War, was divided between France and Great Britain. The French mandated territory became independent in 1960, and a year later part of the British mandate joined it. A bilingualism has ensued, with repercussions also on film production, which has accentuated the already considerable ethnic and religious differences between the various groups of the population. These factors favored the establishment of an authoritarian one-party regime, which was periodically shaken by episodes of guerrilla warfare, urban riots and attempts at coups d’état.

According to Localcollegeexplorer, the pioneers of the cinema of Cameroon were some directors who had studied in France and had shot their first short films there in the 1960s, both documentary and fictional: Jean-Paul N’Gassa (Aventure en France, 1962, on the life of students Cameroonian emigrants), Thérèse Sita Bella (Tam-tam à Paris, 1963, on a performance of traditional dances in Paris), Thomas Makoulet-Manga (Mon stage à Paris, 1968) and Urbain Dia-Mokouri (Point de vue 1, 1965; La fleur dans le sang, 1968) which then continued the business until the 1980s (La brûlure, 1982; Le veinard, 1983). However, the Fond de développement de industrie cinématographique (FODIC), established in 1967, did not function adequately. it was therefore with considerable difficulty that the playwright and screenwriter Jean-Pierre Dikongue-Pipa was able to shoot in 1975 the fictional feature film Muna Moto (The Son of the Other), the first and most important Cameroon abroad; it recalls, in an expressive black and white, the story of a love hindered by the most rigid traditions of society. In the same year Daniel Kamwa made the comedy Pousse-Pousse, in an attempt to lay the foundations for a popular cinema; further confirmation of his path came from other films with a social background such as Notre fille (1980), Totor (1993) and Le circle des pouvoirs (1997). J.-P. Dikongue-Pipa also entered this trend, with the comic film Histoires drôles et drôles de gens (1983) and the musical melodrama Badyaga (1987). In the seventies and eighties the director, actor and producer Alphonse Beni gave a turning point to more commercial production, with original genre films ranging from erotic (Les mecs, les flics et les p…, 1974) to detective (Cameroun connection, 1985). Arthur Si Bita owes his fame to Les coopérants (1983), which tells the story of a relationship of solidarity between students and farmers. During the same period, films were made in Paris by Jules Takam, with the detective story Appât du gain (1981), and Jean-Claude Tchuilen, with Suicides (1983). Arthur Si Bita owes his fame to Les coopérants (1983), which tells the story of a relationship of solidarity between students and farmers. During the same period, films were made in Paris by Jules Takam, with the detective story Appât du gain (1981), and Jean-Claude Tchuilen, with Suicides (1983). Arthur Si Bita owes his fame to Les coopérants (1983), which tells the story of a relationship of solidarity between students and farmers. During the same period, films were made in Paris by Jules Takam, with the detective story Appât du gain (1981), and Jean-Claude Tchuilen, with Suicides (1983).

The most significant expression of a socially engaged cinema is represented by the filmography of Jean-Marie Téno, who began making short films in the early 1980s, continuing with a continuity foreign to most other directors. Sometimes resorting to humor and the contamination between reality and fiction, he has signed a substantial number of short, medium and long length films, including Bikutsi water blues (1988), Afrique, je te plumerai (1991), La tête dans les nuages ​​(1994), later creating works such as Clando (1995) and Chef! (1999).

In the 1990s François L. Woukoache made his debut, addressing historical topics such as slavery (Asientos, 1995), existential dramas (La fumée dans les yeux, 1998), or stories of urban coexistence (Fragments de vie, 1998). Bassek Ba Kobhio’s films with a social background (Sango Malo, 1991; Le grand blanc de Lambaréné, 1995) were much more conventional; while Jean-Pierre Bekolo appeared all too attracted to the effects of a superficial cinephilia in Le complot d’Aristote (1996).