The Cameroonian author and director Edouard Elvis Bvouma has won many grants and residencies, such as the Institut Français’ Visa pour la création and Artcena’s Aide à la création de Textes dramatique. In Cameroon, he co-founded the company Zouria Theatre, with which he has staged both his own works and those of other writers.
He was named playwright of the year at the 2008 Grands Prix Afrique du Théâtre Francophone, and other awards include: Society of Dramatic Composers and Writers, Inédits d'Afrique et Outremer, RFI Theatre Award 2017, Prix Eclat de cœurs and Artcena’s Aide à la création de Textes Dramatiques. His works have been translated into English and Romanian, and are published by Lansman Editeur.
As an Odyssée resident artist at the Chartreuse de Villeneuve-lez-Avignon, Edouard Elvis Bvouma worked on a new project, the play ‘Chacun pour un, deux pour tous’, a theatrical saga based on the events which took place one night in a cell occupied by Jean Moulin, prefet of Chartres, and an armed soldier. Following Moulin’s refusal to sign a document attributing the death of civilians to African troops serving in the French army, he was locked in a cell where he spent the night with the armed soldier. He was tortured and attempted to kill himself by cutting his own throat. The Nazis found him covered with blood and let him go. The account given in Jean Moulin’s book, ‘Premier combat’, is the starting point for Edouard Elvis Bvouma’s project. In April 2019 he travelled to Chartres to carry out research and visit sites linked to the story, including the cell, Jean Moulin’s office, monuments and the tombs of the gunmen.