College of Liberal Arts & Sciences The University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication The University of Iowa

 

 

Lyombe Eko
Video Productions/Documentaries

 

Elephant-People: An African Secret Society and Globalization (2007).

Languages: English and French.

A documentary about the Bakweri “Mahlé” (or Malley or Mallé) a secret society in Cameroon, West Africa, whose totem is the African elephant (Equeka njoku).The Mahlé society is grounded on the African philosophical concept of transilience whereby human beings are believed to have animal attributes and even doubles. The Mahlé is the most enduring aspect of the Whakpe culture. It survived 125 years of colonial and missionary attempts to stamp it out as heathen. The documentary focuses on role of the secret society as a symbol of how the Bakweri strive a balance between their culture, Christianity, and the influence of modernity.

Screened at:
1. Le Musée de L’Homme, Paris, France as part of the ethnographic series, Les Mecredis du Film Ethnographique: L’Autre et Le Sacre (The Sacred and the Other)(2008).

2. The Africa World Documentary
Film Festival, University of Missouri, St. Louis. (October 2007).

Kip Keeps Kids. URTNA Programme Exchange Center, Nairobi, Kenya; producer/director: L.Eko. Camera: Peter Karanja, Boniface Mutwiwa. Technical Director: Ben Kpossilandé, Assts. Pius Ndirango, Karanja Kimwere. Translator, Josph arap Boit. Languages: English & French.
Honorary Mention (Prix Futura, Sender Fries Berlin, 1993).

Documentary on Kipchoge Keino African Olympian who won gold and silver medals at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic games and the 1972 Munich Olympic games. Kip Keino and his wife, Phyllis, have dedicated their life to one cause–sheltering and protecting abandoned children.

Portrait of an Artist : Elimo Njau, the Antelope-man / URTNA Programme Exchange Center, Nairobi, Kenya ; Camera: Peter Karanja, Technical Director: Ben Kpossilandé, Assts. Pius Ndirango, producer/director: Lyombe Eko (1992). Languages: English and French.

Honorary Mention (Vues d’Afrique: Journées du cinema Africain, 1993).

A portrait of East Africa's best-known artist. The video seeks to illustrate Elimo Njau's role as artist in enabling Africans to return to their ancestral culture. "The African views life as a proverb whose meaning lies in an unraveling of its symbols.

Portrait of an Artist : Wasp at Work. / URTNA Programme Exchange Center, Nairobi, Kenya; Camera: Peter Karanja, Technical Director: Assts. Pius Ndirango, producer/director: Lyombe Eko (1993). Languages: English and French.

Honorary Mention (Vues d’Afrique: Journées du cinema Africain, 1993).

Documentary featuring Kenyan artist and educator, Elizabeth-Orchardson Mazrui whose work comments on the contradictory attitude of African society towards its women

The OAU at 30. OAU/URTNA Programme Exchange Center, Nairobi, Kenya. Camera: Peter Karanja; Technical Director: Ben Kpossilandé, Pius Ndirango, producer/director: Lyombe Eko (1993). Languages: English, French, Arabic & Portuguese.

Survey of African history and politics to independence. The creation of the Organization of African Unity in 1962 has been the motor of African liberation from colonialism. However, the OAU did not become the motor of the African economic development. The signing in 1991, of the treaty establishing the African Economic Community and the African Union is a step in the right direction. Program contains thirtieth anniversary celebrations in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Cairo, Egypt.

Spot Light on Tunis (Pleins Feux sur Tunis): The First Afro-Arab Trade Fair. Tunis, Tunisia (October 22-31, 1993). OAU/URTNA. Camera: Peter Karanja; Technical Director: Ben Kpossilandé, Pius Ndirango, producer/director: Lyombe Eko (1993). Languages: English & French, Arabic & Portuguese

Documentary on the various aspects of the First Afro-Arab Trade Fair that was sponsored by the Organization of African Unity and the Arab League as part of Afro-Arab cooperation. The trade fair that took place at the Foire Internationale de Tunis, in Le Kram Tunisia. The documentary features the opening ceremony led by Tunisian President, Zine El Abidine BEN ALI, as well as a cross section of exhibits and exhibitors from the African and Arab worlds.

6th All Africa Trade Fair: Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF), Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. OAU/URTNA. Camera: Peter Karanja; Technical Director: Ben Kpossilandé, Pius Ndirango, producer/director: Lyombe Eko (1993). Languages: English & French, Arabic Portuguese.

Documentary on the 6th All Africa Trade Fair sponsored by the Organization of African Unity in 1993. It features an opening ceremony and speech by President Robert Mugabe, as well as interviews with organizers and exhibitors from across the African continent.

Living With a Time Bomb: AIDS (1991). URTNA Programme Exchange Center, Nairobi, Kenya; producer/director: Camera: Peter Karanja, Technical Director: Ben Kpossilandé, Assts. Pius Ndirango, Gabriel Bagui; Producer/Director: Lyombe Eko (1990). One of the first African documentaries featuring African AIDS patients. It presents the faces of some of the early victims of AIDS, and explores the impact of the disease on their families.

Sabina’s Encounter (Freelance Screen Play, 1990)
Co-wrote screen-play for “Sabina’s Encounter” (1990), a movie about an African woman’s struggles with physical abuse and her discovery of faith.