Thérèse Sita-Bella (1933–27 February 2006), born Thérèse Bella Mbida, was a

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

ian film director who became the first woman filmmaker of Africa and Cameroon.

Early life and education

She was born into the Beti tribe in southern

, and received her education from Catholic missionaries. In the 1950s, after obtaining her baccalaureate from a school in the Cameroonian capital of

Yaoundé Yaoundé (; , ) is the Capital city, capital city of Cameroon. It has a population of more than 2.8 million which makes it the second-largest city in the country after the port city Douala. It lies in the Centre Region (Cameroon), Centre Region o ...

, she went to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in order to continue her studies. It was in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

that her interest in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

and in film developed.

Career

In 1955, Sita-Bella started her career as a journalist. Later on, in 1963, Sita-Bella became the first woman filmmaker in Cameroon and all of Africa. From 1964 to 1965, Sita-Bella worked in France at the French newspaper La Vie Africane, which she co-created. After returning to Cameroon in 1967, she joined the Ministry of Information and became the Deputy Chief of Information.

''Tam Tam à Paris''

In 1963, Sita-Bella directed the

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

'' Tam-Tam à Paris'', which followed a troupe from the Cameroonian National Ensemble during a tour of Paris. Tam Tam à Paris is frequently cited as being the first film by a woman from sub-Saharan Africa. In 1969, ''Tam Tam à Paris'' featured at the first Week of African Cinema, a festival that was later to become known as

FESPACO The Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (, or FESPACO) is a film festival in Burkina Faso, held biennially in Ouagadougou, where the organization is based. It accepts for competition only films by African filmmakers and chief ...

. Sita-Bella was considered to be a trailblazer and one of the rare women working in the film industry that was being dominated by men. She spoke about the film industry in the 1970s by saying:

"Camerawomen in the 1970s? At that time we were very few. There were few West Indians, a woman from Senegal called
Safi Faye Safi Faye (November 22, 1943 – February 22, 2023) was a Senegalese film director and ethnologist.Petrolle, p. 177. She was the first African woman to direct a commercially distributed feature film, '' Kaddu Beykat'', which was released in 1975. ...
and I. But you know cinema is not a woman's business".

Death

On 27 February 2006, Sita-Bella died at a hospital in Yaoundé from colon cancer. Sita-Bella was buried at the Mvolye cemetery in Yaoundé.

Honors

The Sita Bella film hall at the Cameroon Cultural Centre was named after her.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sita Bella, Therese Cameroonian feminists Cameroonian film directors Cameroonian documentary filmmakers Cameroonian journalists Cameroonian women film directors 1933 births 2006 deaths Cameroonian women journalists Deaths from cancer in Cameroon Women documentary filmmakers 20th-century journalists