by Dani Kouyaté
Koumbi is a city struck by poverty ruled over by an emperor. To restore it to prosperity the great priests decide to perform a traditional human sacrifice which the people no longer believe in. The beautiful Sia is chosen for this sacrifice, but she is betrothed to Mamadi, a brave lieutenant in the army. Mamadi rebels against the decision and manages to save Sia from the sacrifice. Although power has changed hands the regime remains corrupt. Sia, who has been raped by the priests, is aware of this. She refuses the empress’s crown offered to her by her fiancé, the new master of the city. She has become a disciple of Kerfa, the subversive old madman...
Dani Kouyaté, who is a national of Burkina Faso, was born 4 June 1961 in Bobo-Dioulasso. He studied at the Institut Africain d’Études Cinématographiques where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in filmmaking. He continued his studies in Paris where he obtained a postgraduate degree at the Sorbonne. He is also a graduate of the International School of Anthropology in Paris. As a storyteller and a musician he has performed at a number of drama festivals in Europe with his group "La Voix du Griot", which was founded in 1986 in Paris. After making three short films which all won prizes in a number of festivals he directed his first feature film "Keïta, l’Héritage du Griot". "Sia, le Rêve du Python" is his second feature film.
Director’s point of view
"After "Keïta, l’Héritage du Griot", my previous film which dealt with the Mandingo period of loss and recovery with its "roots" amid the ferment of modernism, I am continuing to explore the many possibilities offered by the dramaturgy of African oral culture.
But this time, the tone is different; I have focused on the reasons behind the internecine struggles which have bathed Africa in blood, not by looking for the causes in slavery or colonialism but by going far beyond that to question the founding legends. Legends, which because of the pernicious doses of totalitarianism they sometimes contain, have carried their share of the blame. "Sia - le rêve du python" is based on the legend of Wagadu, the founding myth of the pre-Mandingo peoples, to become a universal political fable."
Production:
SAHELIS PRODUCTIONS
Sékou Traoré,
06 BP 9310 Ouagadougou (Burkina-Faso)
Téléphone / télécopie: +00 226 50 36 30 33
Site : www.sahelis.com
E-mail : info@sahelis.com
LES PRODUCTIONS DE LA LANTERNE
Claude Gilaizeau
8, avenue de la porte de Montrouge
75014 Paris (France)
Telephone: 00 33 (0)1 45 39 47 39
Fax: 00 33 (0)1 45 39 02 96
E-mail: prodlant@club-internet.fr
With the participation of:
FONDS SUD CINEMA (ministère des Affaires étrangères et Centre National de la Cinématographie-France); Appui au Développement des Cinémas du Sud (ADC Sud ministère des Affaires étrangères-France); Ministère de la Culture-DCN (Burkina-Faso); Agence de la Francophonie; Fondation Stanley Johnson (Switzerland); Union Européenne.
Distribution et International Sales:
LES PRODUCTIONS DE LA LANTERNE
Claude Gilaizeau
8, avenue de la porte de Montrouge
75014 Paris (France)
Telephone: 00 33 (0)1 45 39 47 39
Fax: 00 33 (0)1 45 39 02 96
E-mail: info@lalanterne.fr
Festival:
The Special Prize of the Jury and the European Community Prize at FESPACO 2001 (Burkina Faso)
Print version