By Etienne Mainimo Mengnjo
Elvis Tanwie aka De Dadies.,who hails from Nkwen, Mazem Division of the Northwest Region of Cameroon is a household name in the Cameroon Film Industry.
The award winning Cameroonian filmmaker has a long story that started in 2005. His maiden appearance in the industry was as a Production Assistant, but he later became a Script Supervisor and also became prolific in Continuity.
His passion for his job earned him the name “Script Boy”. Through this, De Dadies acquired many other skills namely scriptwriting, camera operations (cinematography), lighting, sound and production design through local and international workshops and trainings.
Motivated by the quest for more knowledge in the field, he embarked on a self-train six months course in screenwriting and screen directing.
This paved the way for his debut as a film writer, producer and director in 2010. He wrote, directed and produced his first movie titled ¨Ride my wrongs¨, which stared Richard Kings, Epule Jeffery, and other great actors of today.
His steady move up the ladder has been met with challenges which he continually surmounts. He has a strong admiration for those who have inspired him to where he is.
De Dadies has taken part in over a hundred audiovisual productions spanning across 23 production companies in Cameroon and beyond.
In 2017, he realised his 36th film project as a movie director within his fourteen years as a filmmaker. In his 40th year as a filmmaker, Tanwie has been nominated and awarded in several platforms in and out of the country
During the maiden edition of ACE awards in 2008, he was recognised as an outstanding assistant production manager. In 2016 during the maiden edition of Red feather awards, he was recognised as Cameroon’s best film director.
He was again officially crowned best film director in 2018 during the Zafaa Awards in London. He also emerged as 2019’s Best Cameroonian TV Series director at the CANAL D’OR awards.
These awards came after he had just hit a record of directing the longest Cameroonian film since independence.
As a producer, writer, cinematographer, and director, he has been able to achieve a lot over the years. Some of his movies iclude, Bad Angel (312 episodes series), Night in the grass field, Two ways, Chasing tails, The Decision, Canal Trap, Ride my wrongsand others.
Apart from being a filmmaker, Elvis Tanwie has a rich experience in modelling management. He is the modelling coordinator for Revelation Bilingual Theatre group, co-founder of the “Arabian Nite” modelling and music project in 2005. He was also project manager for Miss West/University Africa Cameroon from 2011-2012 with Penjo Entertainment.
He has also been a Board member as well as communications officer and web manager of the national bureau of the Cameroon film industry -CFI (2013-2016). He is equally an excellent project manager, backstage manager, event planner, and project developer.
Besides being a filmmaker, Elvis Tanwie is a certified network administrator with a diploma in project planning and Management.
He is the founder and CEO of “Na level Empire”, an organisation that seeks to valorise the African culture through film and documentary production, music, modelling, and other art forms. The main goal of the organization is to empower, train and expose young talents.
