Private Project

When a River Becomes a Border

The film discusses the artificiality and the Fragility of the border between Cameroon and Chad, which is determined by the Chari river. The people residing around the riverbank go freely back and forth, and take advantage of these socio-ethnic corridors to sneak between the two nationalities in order to seize the opportunities presented to them. The film accompanies Waldiga, a university student in Chad, who as many others in this region has a life on both sides.

  • Robi Layio
    Director
  • Robi Layio
    Writer
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Quand une Rivière devient une Frontière
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    36 minutes 7 seconds
  • Country of Origin:
    Cameroon
  • Country of Filming:
    Cameroon
  • Language:
    French
  • Shooting Format:
    35
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - The University of Maroua
Director Biography - Robi Layio

Robi Layio holds his PhD in Visual Anthropology at the University of Maroua. His work focuses on topics such as border culture and young people in cross-border dynamics, the citizenships and trans-citizenships, and the resilience of young people to the security crisis in the Lake Chad micro-region. He directed the films "'Tchoua-tchoua', Survival Strategy" (2018), "Back to Roots" (2018) and "When a River becomes a Border" (2020).

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