Sia, le rêve du python (English title: Sia, The Dream of the Python) is a 2001 film by Burkina Faso-based filmmaker Dani Kouyaté.
Plot Kaya Maghan, the despotic king of Wagadou, follows the instructions of his priest by ordering the religious sacrifice to the Python God of Sia Yatabene, the virgin daughter of a notable family. A gift of gold equivalent to Sia’s weight is given to her family as compensation for surrendering their daughter for the sacrifice. However, Sia runs away and finds shelter in the home of a mad prophet who has railed against the king. The king orders his top general to locate Sia, but the general is conflicted since Sia was engaged to marry his nephew, Mamadi, who is in battle on behalf of the kingdom. Mamadi returns and joins his uncle to do battle against the Python God.
Production and release The inspiration of Sia, le rêve du python is a seventh-century myth of the Wagadu people of Western Africa, which was adapted into the play La légende du Wagudu vue par Sia Yatabéré by Mauritanian writer Moussa Diagana. He also adapted the screenplay with filmmaker Dani Kouyaté.
Sia, le rêve du python played at the 2001 Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO), where it won the Special Jury Prize for a Feature Film.
In May 2002, the film had its U.S. theatrical premiere. Critical reaction was mostly positive. Dave Kehr, in the New York Times, praised Kouyate’s directing style as giving the film “a certain timeless quality,” though he noted its “measured pace and lack of dramatic inflection can also seem tedious.” Wilson Morales, writing for BlackFilm.com, praised the film’s technical aspects, stating that the film "is visually stunning, as its costumes and settings capture the essence of what Africa looked like in ancient times." Elizabeth Zimmer of the Village Voice praised the timeless nature of the film’s plot, observing that "the subtitled costume drama is set in a remote African empire before cell phones, guns, and the internal combustion engine, but the politics that thump through it are as timely as tomorrow."
Sia, le rêve du python was released in the U.S. on DVD in 2007 as a double-feature with another Burkinabé film, Tasuma, The Fighter.
posted
Nigeria: Lancelot's Adesuwa Ready for the Cinema 22 October 2011
He presented the big budget movie to the press on Tuesday amidst accolades.
Adesuwa, according to him, is the most expensive movie he has ever produced in recent times. Set in 1752, the movie features a top notch cast, which includes veteran actor Olu Jacobs, Ngozi Ezeonu, Bob-Manuel Udokwu, Cliff Igbinovia, Kofi Adjorlolo, and Iyobosa Olaya. Lavishly filmed, and featuring remarkable visual effects, the movie takes Lancelot into the memorable past of the Benin Kingdom to bring a tale of lust, passion, and betrayal.
A true life story, Adesuwa centres on a king that demean his throne because of a woman that has already being betrothed to another man. Princess Adesuwa famed for her unrivalled beauty and the betrothed to the king and ruler of the Benin Empire was abducted.
"It got to a point on set of the movie, the cast, crew and everyone present on the set busted in tears when the characters are interpreting their different roles. This shows the depth of the story and what the movie buff should expect when is finally release." said Lancelot who just won a prestigious Media Award in Toronto.
The popular director, said over N17million was spent in making this movie, which was shot on HDV and has been on post production for the past 16 months. By all standard, Adesuwa is bound to be a world class movie. The movie will start showing in the cinemas from 28th of this month.
According to Lancelot, there will be a special screening of the film at the University of Port-Harcourt, after which it will premier in Benin, Abuja, and Lagos respectively.
This is to pay tribute to the university that produced most of the cast of the film.
Posts: 2688 | Registered: Jul 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
New 335,000 Euros Malian history TV series "The kings of Segou" now on TV5Monde webTV
Issue no. 114; 29 September 2011
A historical saga that traces the saga of the Bambara kingdom in the seventeenth century, this is the crazy bet of director Boubacar Sidibe, with ‘the Kings of Ségou‘ («Les rois de Ségou» in French).
This series of seven episodes of 78 minutes each, broadcast on TV5 Monde last July, is now available free on the French-language channel Web TV since Sept. 2, 2011 according to RFI. The saga takes the viewer on the steps of the “Bambara”, which dominated the region of present-day Mali between the seventeenth and nineteenth century.
The stated goal of this production (deliberately simplified) is to: "give Africans the opportunity to see through the screen their past staged in an attractive and understandable way for the broader audience," says the director. It is also an opportunity to learn about the kingdom of Segou’s war customs beyond the borders of Mali.
To write this history, we had to make a long archival work, but also meet many griots (traditional African poet-musicians) and specialized historians:"You know, the themes of many series focus on African ideas and realities. Far from despising the entertainment and intellectual enrichment aspects that these series provide, I feel, however as frustrated as the viewers of my continent, "says Boubacar Sidibé.
Over the episodes, we discover the endless power struggles of legendary warriors, as Biton Coulibaly, founder of the kingdom of Segou, or the predictions of fetish who prepare their revenge..."The insult that cannot be cured in the blood. The challenge should be faced even if it is unreasonable and if the party is losing, "says the director.
The shooting, which took place in the forest of Tienfala, a few kilometers from Bamako, the capital, and in the village of N'gami near Segou, lasted ten weeks, with the participation of 250 actors and extras from Mali.
The series - a co-production of ORTM (TV channel Malian general public), Brico Films and Sarama Films - has cost 220 million CFA francs (335,000 Euros)
posted
Awesome thread! I especially appreciate the last link. Admittedly, I haven't seen many historically-oriented cinematic films coming from the continent. The last one that I saw was called "Keita! Heritage of the Griot" and it is a fine film indeed. It is based on the Sundiata epic and I notice the first film is based on an old Soninke epic. Can't wait to check out "The kings of Segou". Posts: 4021 | From: Bay Area, CA | Registered: Mar 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
I saw this and I may or may not have posted this over at ESR.. not a bad effort but I am kinda spoiled on Hollywood productions I had to ignore the power lines popping up in the scenes amongst other things but all in all a good story, like I said I am spoiled so I hope the makers would do a remake and put money in the production or make it into an animation.
Posts: 6546 | From: japan | Registered: Feb 2009
| IP: Logged |
posted
I agree with Anansi's critique. Also when redone I think it should stick more to the mythos (lose some of its deconstructionist tone), be more like a movie (too much of it reminded me of a play's production).
Don't get me wrong, I do recommend the film, just that as its based on a national epic it too should be epic. I know, I know, producers will not sink epic movie money in a film that will have a limited audience appeal. Maybe one day a series like on a cable if even for a single season just might get $$$$$ backing.
About The Short Film Pumzi, an African Sci-Fi Post-Apocalyptic Morality Tale
Posted in Africa on Film, African Filmmakers, African Science Fiction Films, African Women Filmmakers, Countries: Kenya, Kenyan Film, South African Film by the woyingi blogger on September 30, 2010
I have recently stumbled upon the trailer for the short film Pumzi (Pumzi means ‘breath’ in Swahili). The film has been travelling around the US but I haven’t heard if it is coming to Canada. As a Sci-Fi fan, I would love to see more African Sci-Fi films. South Africa’s District 9 was visually stunning with a great plot but it had no Black African central characters. I want to see more Black African Sci-Fi heroes on film; they already are coming up in fiction, thanks to the work of writers like Nnedi Okorafor, a Nigerian American whose fantasy novel Zahrah the Windseeker I recently reviewed (See The Woyingi Blogger’s Review).
The film is directed by young Kenyan filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu who studied film at UCLA. Kahiu won Best Director at the Africa Movie Academy Awards for her film From a Whisper, about the 1998 bombings of the US Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar el Salaam, Tanzania. I unknowingly had already seen her work as a director because she directed the behind the scenes documentary for Philip Noyce’s film Catch a Fire, which is based on a true story of a regular oil worker who becomes a freedom fighter in apartheid South Africa. She also directed a documentary about the Kenyan environmental activist Wangari Maathai.
Pumzi is a Kenyan/South African co-production. Its South African producers are Simon Hansen (who produced the short film Alive in Joburg which became the feature film District 9), Hannah Slezacek and Amira Quinlan of Inspired Minority Pictures. Kahiu was able to come up with the grant to finance the film from the Goethe Institut, Focus Features (which also produced District 9), and the Changamoto Fund. The film was shot over two weeks on location in South Africa. There were no Kenyan actors used. The film runs for about 21 minutes. It was screened at the Sundance Film Festival and Cannes, where it won Best Short Film. Kahiu is now working on trying to develop Pumzi into a feature-length film.
South African Actress Kundzani Moswela with Kenyan Director Wanuri Kahiu
The film is set in East Africa 35 years after World War Three, the “Water War”. The war has caused large-scale ecological devastation. Put simply, “nature is extinct”. The land is uninhabitable so humans must leave inside specially sealed compounds. Humans only have recycled urine to drink.
The central character of the film is Asha, played by Kudzani Moswela, a South African model and actress. Asha is a curator at a virtual natural history museum in the Maitu community, which is one of these compounds. One day she receives a sample of soil that is not toxic and she decides to use it to plant a seed she has in her possession. It starts to grow! Asha wishes to see if the soil sample is indicative that there is plant life on Earth again. In order to get permission to go outside she must apply for a visa from the authorities of the Maitu community. She is denied. Asha then decides to break out of the compound in order to see what is happening on the Earth’s surface for herself.
Asha and the soil sample that might be a sign of hope for the future
__________________________________________________ Film Review: I Sing of a Well (2009) by Leila Djansi
Film: I Sing of a Well (2009)
Director: Leila Djansi
Country: Ghana
Genre: Historical Drama
The film opens with the following words, written by Ghanaian actor J.O.T Agyeman, who also stars in the film, and narrated by Jimmy Jean-Louis, the Haitian model turned actor, who is best known for his role as The Haitian in NBC’s Heroes.
In a time long ago, before Christopher Columbus, before the first ships made their way across the shores of Africa; before Asanteman and the Ashantehene, in the time of the Mali Empire and Mansa Musa, his influence and affluence. In the days when the dust of the ground rises with the crackling sound of the hoofs of horses and camels. When men flee the comfort of their homes for the deep of the forests. Torn from their holds and sent off into the sunset never to return. Running from the four corners of the earth, pursued by their own brothers. Their limbs severed from flesh to flesh in their bid to flee the hand of those who by-pass the will of the gods and make themselves gods. Through the darkness, their shadows encompass village after village creating widows and orphans. Emptying kingdoms of men and relieving kings of their stools and skins. In these times, the dry earth lived in fear. Everything, anyone, anything is an enemy. But in the kingdom of Kotengbi, a dwelling in the Ghana Empire, there are those whose spirit preserve in contentment and in soreness the instructions of reason about what he ought and ought not to fear. They are men of faith, men who still believe that will rule not in the space provided by the toil and suffering of their courage. Their fortitute exists not only in their resistance.
In a“I Sing of a Well” is the first installment of the trilogy Legion of Slaves. Written, directed and co-produced by Leila Djansi, the film aims to give the African perspective on the West African slave trade. This first film is set in the Kingdom of Kotengbi time long ago, before Christopher Columbus, before the first ships made their way across the shores of Africa; before Asanteman and the Ashantehene, in the time of the Mali Empire and Mansa Musa, his influence and affluence. In the days when the dust of the ground rises with the crackling sound of the hoofs of horses and camels. When men flee the comfort of their homes for the deep of the forests. Torn from their holds and sent off into the sunset never to return. Running from the four corners of the earth, pursued by their own brothers. Their limbs severed from flesh to flesh in their bid to flee the hand of those who by-pass the will of the gods and make themselves gods. Through the darkness, their shadows encompass village after village creating widows and orphans. Emptying kingdoms of men and relieving kings of their stools and skins. In these times, the dry earth lived in fear. Everything, anyone, anything is an enemy. But in the kingdom of Kotengbi, a dwelling in the Ghana Empire, there are those whose spirit preserve in contentment and in soreness the instructions of reason about what he ought and ought not to fear. They are men of faith, men who still believe that will rule not in the space provided by the toil and suffering of their courage. Their fortitute exists not only in their resistance. Within the Kingdom of Kotengbi, Soraya (Akofa E. Asiedu) and Dume (Godwin Kotey) are in love but Dume is a poor hunter and cannot afford the Bride Price that Soraya’s uncle Yohannes demands. From the start of the film, we meet the seer, Alaka, who has predicted that Dume will be the father of kings and Soraya will bear princes.
After saving her from being wiped for raising a false alarm about slave raiders, Prince Wenambe falls in love with Soraya and desires to marry her. Prince Wenambe is jealous of Dume and has him killed. Soraya, already pregnant with Dume’s son, is forced to marry Prince Wenambe. Prince Wenambe is driven to depression by Soraya’s indifference to him and the fact that his plan to protect his village has backfired now that Mansa Musa is enslaving his people.
I really enjoyed watching a historical drama written by Africans for Africans. It offers insights into the dynamics of the slave trade and resistance to the slave trade in West Africa before the arrival of the Europeans. We often do not discuss this aspect of our history and so I commend Djansi for taking the risk of exploring this subject matter.
The film, shot on a mini 35mm camera, was technically at a higher standard than is usually seen in Ghanaian films, bringing it closer to the level of cinematography seen in Francophone West African Art House films. The acting was excellent, although I felt that well-known Ghanaian actress Akofa Asiedu, who also co-produced the film, was miscast as the character of Soraya really should have been younger to make it believable that the Crown Prince would desire her from among all the possible women who he could marry.
There were also some serious historical anachronisms that troubled me. The opening narration clearly sets the story in the time before Christopher Columbus, during the reign of Mansa Musa, however, in one scene, Soraya’s mother is making cassava to eat, and even talks about cassava with Dume. But cassava is indigenous to Brazil and was only introduced to Africa by Portuguese traders, obviously after 1492. I also wonder if Djansi has made the common mistake of thinking that the Ghana Empire had anything to do with the present-day country Ghana-it doesn’t. The Ghana Empire was located in what is present-day South-Eastern Mauritania and Western Mali. The Ghana Empire had also fallen before the rise of the Mali Empire which actually contained the remains of the Ghana Empire.
I sing of a Well official Trailer - YouTube Starring: JOT Agyeman, Akofa Edjeani Asiedu, Godwin Kotey, Mary Yirenkyi, Kofi Middleton Mends and ...
Guimba the Tyrant (French: Guimba, un tyrant, une époque) is a 1995 Malian comedy drama film in the Bambara language (with some Fula language components), directed by noted Malian director Cheick Oumar Sissoko. The movie shows the rise and fall of a cruel and despotic village chief Guimba, and his son Jangine in a fictional village in the Sahel of Mali. Some of the storytelling was done through the medium of the village griot, and with the film being placed in an old setting, lends an epic touch to the movie. The exact chronological setting of the movie is difficult to ascertain, being set in an isolated village, but the commonly used weaponry shown is the blunderbuss. The film depicts some magical components, including a solar eclipse brought on by magic. Casting was only partially done from among professional actors.
The film has well designed, colorful and exotic props, costumes and sets. It has evoked mixed responses from critics, while being lauded for its visual beauty. Slapstick comedy is present throughout the movie, as is comedy through the actions of the griot. The screenplay also contains numerous interesting African adages. The movie soundtrack contains music sung in old dialects using ancient instruments.
Some critics have founds elements of political satire in the film, due to director Oumar Sissoko's resistance to Malian dictator Moussa Traoré.
Yeelen is a 1987 Malian film directed by Souleymane Cissé. It is filmed in the Bambara and Fula languages, and is based on a legend told by the Bambara people. Though the era is undefined, it is presumably set in the 13th century in the Mali Empire and is a heroic quest narrative featuring magic and precognition.
It stars Issiaka Kane as Niankoro, a young African man who possesses magical powers. Niamanto Sanogo plays Niankoro's father, who is tracking his son through the Bambara, Fulani and Dogon lands of West Africa using a magical wooden post to guide him. The title means "brightness".
Yeelen was met with wide critical success, and was awarded the Jury Prize at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival. It was also nominated for the Golden Palm award for the same year.
posted
Sia and Yeelen sound like they could be worth seeing although I bet they'll be hard to find.
I'm a big fan of sword-and-sorcery fantasy movies like Conan the Barbarian and The Scorpion King. Are there any African-themed equivalents to these? I would also kill to see a more accurate portrayal of Kemet on the big screen.
Posts: 7115 | From: Fallbrook, CA | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I have so far seen only clips of Pumzi,but I can't find it anywhere even on downloading sites.
Posts: 6546 | From: japan | Registered: Feb 2009
| IP: Logged |
posted
Azuka is a girl born with a birthmark identical to the tattoo of a sinister sorceress Uru, who died long ago. Despite her mother’s effort to conceal the birthmark, it is eventually discovered, and the annihilation of the child becomes imminent, in order to protect her people from the curse of Uru. The intervention of the earthbound elemental spirit Isi-Agu and his protégé Etido forestalls Azuka’s execution.
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic