Feature film
Keita! The Heritage of the Griot
Keïta ! L'Héritage du griot
Dani Kouyaté · 1995
Synopsis
An old griot, Djéliba Kouyaté, leaves his village for the city, entrusted in a dream with a mission. He settles with the Keïtas, a middle-class family, and promises young Mabo, a schoolboy, to reveal to him the origin of his name: the epic of Sundiata Keïta, founder of the Mali Empire. As the tale goes back to the origins of the Manding and to the buffalo woman, Mabo neglects his lessons, to the great displeasure of his parents and his schoolteacher.
Context
The film was produced by Sahelis Productions, in Ouagadougou, with Les Productions de la Lanterne. Sotigui Kouyaté, the director's father, plays the griot. According to B. Reinwald, who cites the critic Biny Traoré, the narrative follows the written version of the epic published by Djibril Tamsir Niane, and the film questions the decline of the griot in the face of school. It received in 1995 the prize for best first work at Fespaco and the Cannes Junior prize. It is also used as teaching material in secondary schools.
Who it is for
For discovering the great Manding narrative as a griot tells it, in a Burkinabè film accessible to the youngest viewers.
Prizes and reception
Jonathan Rosenbaum warmly recommended this film in 1998, at its American release.
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