Films with: Gilaizeau, Claude

Sia le rêve du python = Sia, the dream of the python /

Tasuma: The story of Sogo Sanou, aka Tasuma, a former French soldier who was a member of the African troops known as the Tiralleurs Senegalais, which fought hard for France. Sanou has been trying for over 50 years to obtain his well-deserved military pension. Convinced he will receive the money, he buys a mill on credit for the village. When the money does not arrive, Sanou is put in prison. The women of the village rally to set him free. Sia: Kombi is a poverty-stricken city dominated by a tyrant king. In order to bring back prosperity, the king is advised by his priests to make the traditional human sacrifice of a young virgin to a mystical snake god. Sia, the most beautiful young woman in the village, is chosen. Lieutenant Mamadi, her fiancé, rebels against the decision to perform this ritual, and the village becomes divided. Struggles and revelations follow as the villagers confront issues of honor, corruption and power.

DVD 7740

Sotigui Kouyaté un Griot moderne = Sotigui Kouyaté : a modern Griot /

Griot is a West African term that refers to a poet, praise singer, or wandering musician who acts as a repository of oral tradition, preserving and sharing the cultures they interact with. Filmmaker Mahamat-Saleh Haroun presents well-known West African Griot, musician, and actor Sotigui Kouyaté, through travels and interviews with Kouyaté, his family and friends, both in his adopted home of France and his childhood home in West Africa. The film follows Kouyate's career, starting from the childhood experience of his favorite entertainments being replaced by French settlers' formal theatre, through early acting work in Burkina Faso, to Kouyate's eventual arrival in French theatre. Moving with Kouyaté through a number of very different cultures, the film demonstrates Kouyaté's long-standing efforts to share the indigenous arts and heritage of West Africa, including his founding of "The Griot's voice" acting company in France and the Mandeka Theatre in Bamako, Mali.

DVD 7741