Thérèse Sita-Bella
{{short description|Cameroonian film director}}
Image:Sitabella.png{{Infobox person
| name = Thérèse Sita-Bella
| birth_name = Thérèse Bella Mbida
| birth_date = 1933
| death_date = 27 February 2006
| death_place = Yaoundé
| nationality = Cameroonian
| citizenship = Cameroonian
| occupation = Film director
}}
Thérèse Sita-Bella (1933–27 February 2006), born Thérèse Bella Mbida, was a Cameroonian 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 Cameroon, and received her education from Catholic missionaries. In the 1950s, after obtaining her baccalaureate from a school in the Cameroonian capital of Yaoundé, she went to Paris in order to continue her studies. It was in France that her interest in journalism 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.{{cite journal| last1=Pouya|first1=André Marie|title=Interview with Thérèse Sita-Bella|journal=Amina| date=September 1989|volume=233|page=44| url=http://www.africanwomenincinema.org/AFWC/Amina_Sita_Bella.html|accessdate=10 November 2016|language=french}}
''Tam Tam à Paris''
In 1963, Sita-Bella directed the documentary Tam-Tam à Paris, which followed a troupe from the Cameroonian National Ensemble during a tour of Paris.{{cite journal|last1=Tchouaffé|first1=Olivier Jean|title=Women in Film in Cameroon: Thérèse Sita-Bella, Florence Ayisi, Oswalde Lewat and Josephine Ndagnou
|journal=Journal of African Cinemas|date=2012|volume=4|issue=2|pages=191–206| doi=10.1386/jac.4.2.191_1}} Tam Tam à Paris is frequently cited as being the first film by a woman from sub-Saharan Africa.{{cite web|title=Recovering Lost African Film Classics|url=http://www.africa-in-motion.org.uk/lostclassics.html|website=africa-in-motion.org.uk|accessdate=10 November 2016|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081017092947/http://www.africa-in-motion.org.uk/lostclassics.html|archivedate=17 October 2008}} In 1969, Tam Tam à Paris featured at the first Week of African Cinema, a festival that was later to become known as FESPACO.{{cite journal|last1=Ellerson|first1=Beti|title=African Women and the Documentary: Storytelling, Visualizing History, from the Personal to the Political|journal=Black Camera|date=Fall 2016|volume=8|issue=1|pages=223–239|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/634992|accessdate=10 November 2016|doi=10.2979/blackcamera.8.1.0223|s2cid=157593132 }}{{subscription required}}
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 and I. But you know cinema is not a woman's business".{{cite web|last1=Tande|first1=Dibussi|title=Sita Bella: The Final Journey of a Renaissance Woman|url=http://www.dibussi.com/2006/03/sita_bell_the_f.html|website=dibussi.com|accessdate=10 November 2016}}
Death
On 27 February 2006, Sita-Bella died at a hospital in Yaoundé from colon cancer.{{cite web|title=Cameroon's first woman journalist dies|url=http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/mar-2006/2/latest.php|website=nation.com.pk|accessdate=10 November 2016|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080317131717/http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/mar-2006/2/latest.php|archivedate=17 March 2008}} 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.{{cite web|last1=Anchunda|first1=Benly|title=Cameroon Cultural Centre gets face lift|url=http://crtv.cm/fr/latest-news/art-et-culture-2/cameroon-cultural-centre-gets-face-lift-14583.htm|website=crtv.cm|accessdate=24 November 2016}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sita Bella, Therese}}
Category:Cameroonian feminists
Category:Cameroonian film directors
Category:Cameroonian documentary filmmakers
Category:Cameroonian journalists
Category:Cameroonian women film directors
Category:Cameroonian women journalists
Category:Deaths from cancer in Cameroon