If given the outline of this film, it might be easy to just call it poverty porn. But there’s a genuineness to Mambar Pierrette that keeps this film from sliding into melodrama, a certain subtlety that captures the everyday life in Douala, Cameroon. Filmmaker Rosine Mbakam, who made her start through documentary films, brings her naturalistic style here, placing the titular seamstress front and center as she responds to each and every difficulty that comes her way. And as the flood comes, and so too her troubles, Pierrette Aboheu Njeuthat shines with a subtle charisma, a performance full of dignity for the titular single mother that carved out a life through her craft. Mambar Pierrette might have a familiar neo-realist story, but it’s done well due to its excellent balance.

The dressmaking. It’s so calming to see Mambar Pierrette make the village’s clothing, with the whirr of the sewing machine and her calming voice, but it’s also through her workshop that we get to learn more about the village, as each of the customers come to her not just as a dressmaker, but as a confidant. And the outfits she makes are great too!