Preview Award-Winning Cameroonian Drama Feature, 'W.A.K.A.,' from First-Time Feature Director, Francoise Ellong

Check out the trailer for a new feature film from Paris-based Cameroonian filmmaker Francoise Ellong, who tells me that it's her first feature directorial effort, after helming several short films shot in Paris and London.

Titled "W.A.K.A." (an acronym for "Woman Acts for her Kid Adam"), the film was shot entirely in Cameroon, and tells the story of of Matilda, a 30-something-year-old single woman abandoned by her family, who works as a waitress in a bar, when her life is shaken up after her boss finds out that she's pregnant, and opts to fire her. But that's just the beginning of her post-pregnancy struggles. Mathilde is faced with the choice of either getting rid of her baby and keep her job, or having the child, losing her job, but managing as best as she can to raise him/her. She chooses the latter, is fired from her job, and finds it extremely difficult to get hired elsewhere. That's when MAX, a pimp, enters her life, and, as you can probably imagine what comes next.

For the full story, you'd have to watch the film. which, unfortunately, has yet to be made available in the USA. But maybe the below trailer for it will hold you until then.

The film has been traveling the international film festival circuit, picking up awards along the way, like the Special Jury Prize at the 17th edition of the Festival du cinéma africain de Khouribga - Morocco, and the Dikalo Award for Best First Feature at the Festival International du Film Panafricain de Cannes - France. 

It was released in Cameroon over the summer, and is set for a release in France this fall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj68Xp8Jzww&feature=youtu.be