Cinema
Blood of the Pariahs
Le Sang des parias
Mamadou Djim Kola · 1973
Synopsis
A well-off man, who calls himself a modernist, refuses to let his sister marry the young man she loves, because he belongs to the caste of blacksmiths, regarded as pariahs in their native village. The fiancé is rejected by the whole family, and the situation worsens, until a family secret turns the affair against the brother himself.
Context
In 1971, Upper Volta, which had hosted the Pan-African film festival since 1969 without being able to present a film by one of its own sons, entrusted the project to the only film student in the country. The film was entirely financed by the state with the revenue from the nationalisation of cinemas, decided in 1969, shot in sixteen millimetre and in French, completed in October 1972 and screened for the first time at the 1973 festival.
Who it is for
A French-language film of one hour twenty minutes, hard to find: the conservation of the country's film archives remains partial.
Prizes and reception
Consolation prize at the Ouagadougou festival of 1973, called elsewhere the jury prize; it is regarded as the first fiction feature film of Upper Volta.