(English title: ''Keita! Voice of the Griot'') is a

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

Burkinabé film directed by

Dani Kouyaté Dani Kouyaté (born June 4, 1961) is a film director and griot from Burkina Faso, which the BBC describes as "Africa's most important film-making country". Biography Kouyaté was born in 1961 in Bobo-Dioulasso. He is the son of one of the first B ...

and starring

Sotigui Kouyaté Sotigui Kouyaté (19 July 1936 – 17 April 2010) was one of the first Malian, Burkinabé actors. He was the father of film director Dani Kouyaté, of the storyteller Hassane Kassi Kouyaté and of the actor Mabô Kouyaté and was a member of th ...

. It is an adaptation of the first third of the 13th-century ''

Epic of Sundiata ''Sunjata'' [] (also referred to as ''Sundiata'' or ''Son-Jara'') is an epic poem of the Malinke people that tells the story of the hero Sundiata Keita (died 1255), the founder of the Mali Empire. The epic is an instance of oral tradition, goi ...

'', interspersed with scenes of a

griot A griot (; ; Manding: jali or jeli (in N'Ko: , ''djeli'' or ''djéli'' in French spelling); Serer: kevel or kewel / okawul; Wolof: gewel) is a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, and/or musician. The griot is a repos ...

telling the story to a young child.

Plot

'' Keïta'' follows Mabo Keïta (Dicko), A 13-year-old boy who lives in a bourgeois family in Ouagadougou and attends a good school. He meets Djeliba Kouyate a griot who wants to tell the young Keita the origin of his name being related to Sundjata Keita. Kouyate begins his history with the myth of Mandeng creation As all living beings gather on the newly formed Earth a person declares to the masses that he wants to be their king. The old griot tells how Keita’s family descended from the buffalo, the blackbirds still look at him, and how people have roots that lie at the bottom of the earth.https://skysaki.com/best-burkina-faso-movies-list/

Cast

* Seydou Boro as

Sundjata Keita Sundiata Keita (Mandinka, Malinke: ; 1217 – c. 1255) (also known as Manding Diara, Lion of Mali, Sogolon Djata, son of Sogolon, Nare Maghan and Sogo Sogo Simbon Salaba) was a prince and founder of the Mali Empire. He is also the great-uncle o ...

* Hamed Dicko as Mabo Keïta * Abdoulaye Komboudri as Drissa Fafana *

as Djeliba Kouyate; Sotigui Kouyaté is the father of the director of the film, Dani Kouyaté * Claire Sanon as Sitan * Blandine Yaméogo as Sogolon

Production

Dani Kouyaté directed a number of short films before the release of ''Keïta'', his first full-length feature. The film's working title was ''Keita: From Mouth to Ear''. It was shot in the towns of

Ouagadougou Ouagadougou ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Burkina Faso and the administrative, communications, cultural, and economic centre of the nation. It is also the country's largest city, with a population of 2,415,266 in 2019. The city's n ...

, Sindou, and Ouahabou. The assistant director was Alidou Badini.

Reception

''Keïta!'' received the Best First Film Prize from the

Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou The Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (Festival panafricain du cinéma et de la télévision de Ouagadougou or FESPACO) is a film festival in Burkina Faso, held biennially in Ouagadougou, where the organization is based. It ...

(Fespaco) and was awarded the Junior Prize at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' praised the film, claiming it "succeeds admirably in keeping... history alive." In a 1995 interview, Kouyate reflected on the experience and commenting on traditional society, saying:

Notes

References

* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Keita! L'heritage Du Griot 1995 films 1995 drama films African fantasy films Burkinabé drama films 1990s French-language films