WWF Screens First Nature Fictional Movie, ‘A Cry From the Forest’

WWF has screened a new movie entitled, ‘A Cry From The Forest’, at the French Institute in Yaounde, Cameroon, before an exciting audience of more than 220 invited guests on November 9, 2023.

WWF champion, Laura Onyama, produced the first-ever fictional film about forest conversion in Cameroon in which she featured as lead actor. WWF and the French Development Agency, known by its French abbreviation as AFD, supported the production of the movie that was scripted by writer Lynno Lovert.

The movie is set around Campo Ma’an National Park in the South Region of Cameroon. It seeks to awaken our collective consciousness on the need to preserve nature. A tale of conflict pitting indigenous communities against deceitful forest exploiters, the film delineates a catalogue of lies, gullibility and manipulation in a frantic attempt to harvest precious tree species that have unparalleled medicinal values.

“This movie beams hope in the face of existential threats to the forest,” Laura enthused after the screening.  “The courage of a patriarch and the boldness of a local indigenous girl who must rise to stop her father and foreign exploiters from destroying their sacred ground is called into play in this movie,” she stated.  

The Director of Policy and Partnership at WWF Africa, Laurent Some, said the movie is not only celebrating the beauty of images but portraying the importance of nature as the provider of all what humanity needs and why it must be protected.

He said WWF plays a key role in environmental conservation as a whole and appreciated all stakeholders for their devotedness in protecting the national heritage.  “Beneath the forest, we have wildlife and when you put all what is lost together, then you can have a picture of the magnitude of the problem we are facing,” Some said. “As conservators of nature, WWF is using every means to prick consciences and mobilize the people in addition to big talks at policy events such as the upcoming COP28 on climate change,” he said.

In his opening remarks, Yann Lorvo, the Director of Cultural Establishment at the French Institute, said the French Development Agency has been supportive and hailed WWF for the quality of cooperation, partnership and indispensable work they are doing in the domain of forest conservation. Yann said the movie serves as an occasion to prick individual consciences through education and sensitization on the need for forest conservation.