The many obsessions of Banderas

Two are the obsessions that have marked Banderas Kouam's life since his early youth: being an actor and the Spanish language, and he doesn't quite know why.

No matter how much he thinks, he can't find a reason for it.

He opted for both and today he has a degree in Hispanic Philology and an actor, director and film producer.

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Companions is the heart of most of your activities.

An academy located in the Ngoa-Ekelle neighborhood of Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon.

There he prepares Spanish students for the entrance exam to the Faculty of Education Sciences.

A very close test because those who manage to pass it know that, once they have completed their studies, they are guaranteed a job for life as teachers of Spanish in the country's institutes.

The great success that 44 trained Spanish teachers have achieved in the last nine years has aroused the jealousy of some members, including recent years students, from the nearby university who see in this initiative a competition that takes away possible income and opportunities.

The academy also offers translation services.

The Compañeros store also serves as the headquarters for the JBK films production company, which channels its other great passion: cinema.

From her also comes the name by which everyone knows him, because he, in reality, is called Jerome Domguia Kouam;

However, since his obsession with Spanish was born, at the age of 13, his friends began to call him with Castilian names that made them funny like Sergio or Ignacio.

However, one day the older boys began to call him Antonio Banderas.

At the time, he didn't quite understand why.

Years later, when he saw the movie

Desperado

in which the actor stars, he understood.

When he finally found himself in front of the screen where El Mariachi appeared, his life changed and his third obsession was born.

He understood where the name came from and adopted it, hence everyone now knows him as Kouam Flags.

He began to investigate the life of his new idol, saw all his films and reaffirmed his vocation as an actor.

Cameroon is a country where there are practically no films and theater is a matter for amateurs

The problem was how to make that dream come true in a country where there are practically no films and the theater is a matter for amateurs.

"The Ministry of Culture does not invest in cinema, no other institution in the country does, so to make a film you have to use your own resources and those of friends," says Kouam, before adding: "It's not that I don't know do things in this country, it is that what is done may have very low quality.

Some directors resort to shooting movies with mobile phones and without hiring professional actors because they cannot pay them.

Then they broadcast the result on the country's televisions, that whatever you send them happens for free, without paying anything for your work ”.

These reasons led Kouam to found his own production company to be able to film the works that really interest him.

He sees his cinema as a tool to draw attention to the problems and evils of Cameroonian society, despite knowing that this can be dangerous “in a country where we have a 'soft dictatorship' and anything that can be interpreted as a criticism of the government can have serious consequences.

Here everyone is afraid to speak, because even your friend can go to the authorities to sell them any information in exchange for a beer.

This is the reason, he believes, why, unlike other African countries, civil society in Cameroon plays practically no role: "It does not exist, no one dares to organize."

But this atmosphere of fear and possible retaliation does not make him renounce his intention and he continues with his films playing with them so as not to be too explicit.

"You also have to use humor, because not everything is going to be dramas in life and it is important to laugh."

Perhaps one of the issues he likes to deal with is what he defines as the superiority complex of the country's powerful classes, how they treat the rest of the population and how when some of the exploited rise through the ranks, instead of showing solidarity with his former companions, he treats them with the same contempt and condescension with which he treated him.

But on the part of the poor the thing is the same "because they think that before the rich it is necessary to be submissive and servile, with these attitudes nothing will ever change".

Since 2012, Banderas has directed and produced three feature films and five shorts.

And his head looks like a boiling pot, mulling over ideas for new projects that have to do with dozens of issues such as corruption, for example.

To finance his creations, he resorts to his own means and to the help of friends: his salary as a Spanish teacher in a high school and the benefits of the academy are practically whole for that purpose.

Every Saturday, Compañeros ceases to be a Spanish classroom to become a school for actors

Every Saturday, the Compañeros Academy transforms.

It stops being a Spanish classroom to become a school for actors.

Banderas and his collaborators teach young people who dream of acting.

It is altruistic work, “because in a country like this it is very difficult for these girls and boys to make a living from this work.

It's just an illusion that they have and I try to help them, that's why I can't charge them anything ”.

As part of the training, teachers and students write and rehearse shorts that they then shoot.

Some of these aspiring actors are also Spanish students and with them Kouam has started a dubbing and subtitling school with the dream in mind of allowing the films he produces to be seen in Spain and Spanish films to be seen in Cameroon.

In addition, he tries that the professionals he prepares can be used by Spanish directors who want to record in their country or in another.

"If a director wants African actors who speak Spanish, here we have them."

Banderas Kouam is also the director of the Spanish Cultural Center, dependent on the Embassy of Spain in Yaoundé.

There, several times a month, activities are organized to spread Castilian and Spanish culture, including Sevillian and flamenco classes, Spanish cinema, or Spanish classes, among many others.

The latest of Kouam's obsessions is soccer.

Sundays dedicate it to him.

He plays in three different teams and the morning and afternoon of the last day of the weekend are used to participate in games and parties with friends.

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