''Adanggaman'' is a 2000

historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

film directed by

Roger Gnoan M'Bala Roger Gnoan M'Bala (born 1943) is an Ivorian film director. Born in Grand-Bassam, Ivory Coast, he studied history in Paris and film at the Conservatoire libre du cinéma français (CLCF) and later on in Sweden. From 1968 to 1978, he worked for ...

. It was an international co-production between the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

, Burkina Faso,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, Italy and France.

Plot

At Adanggaman's court, Ossei makes friends with a healer/seer, who was captured as a boy from his village/people by Adanggaman's empire in the 17th century. He heals some wounds that Ossei gained when travelling to Adanggaman, and reveals through his fortune-telling abilities that the future of all in the empire would be bleak for a long time, subject to slavery and oppression. The healer sees his daughter at the court (Naka), who doesn't acknowledge him initially, but recalls her childhood with him guiding her as his only daughter. The seer protests to King Adanngaman, who in turn for his perceived insolence, orders him and Ossei to be sold as slaves. The healer dies whilst in captivity, overcome by disbelief, grief and abandonment. In the end, Ossei leaves Naka, after the two escape, become close friends, and form a household. He goes travelling, to forge a new life, but is captured by soldiers of Adangamaan's court and thus prepped for sale into slavery. He is sold to Europeans, who transport him to the Americas via the

Middle Passage The Middle Passage was the stage of the Atlantic slave trade in which millions of enslaved Africans were transported to the Americas as part of the triangular slave trade. Ships departed Europe for African markets with manufactured goods (first ...

, and is renamed John Stanford by a wealthy plantation owner. He dies at age 70, having five children with a slave woman. King Adangaaman is captured by his aides whilst drunk from rum, and in turn sold to Europeans. He becomes a slave in St. Louis, and is a cook to Europeans there, being given the name Walter Brown.Christopher L. Miller, "Fourteen African “Silence”". The French Atlantic Triangle: Literature and Culture of the Slave Trade, New York, USA: Duke University Press, 2008, pp. 364-384. '' itation: "Renamed Walter Brown, he dies a few years later at “Saint-Louis” (Missouri?)"' He dies in 1698 from tuberculosis.

Cast

* Rasmane Ouedraogo ... Adanggaman *

Albertine N'Guessan Albertine N'Guessan Zebou Lou (died 22 April 2016) was an Ivorian actress. Biography N'Guessan trained at the National Institute of Arts (INA) in Abidjan. In 1972, she performed alongside Bitty Moro, Aboubakar Cyprien Touré and Noël Guié in th ...

... Mo Akassi * Ziable Honoré Goore Bi ... Ossei * Bintou Bakayoko ... Ehua * Nicole Suzis Menyeng ... Adjo * Mireille Andrée Boti ... Mawa * Tie Dijian Patrick ... Kanga * Lou Nadège Blagone ... Safo Aboua * Didier Grandidier ... Bangalajan * Mylène-Perside Boti Kouame ... Naka * Étienne Goheti Bi Gore ... Poro * Zie Soro ... Sory * Sie Lou Chantal ... Amazon * Sokpo Germaine ... Amazon * Bi Cécile ... Amazon

Awards

In 2000, ''Andanggaman'' won the Best Actor and Special Jury Award at the

Amiens International Film Festival Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of Am ...

. The following year it won the Special Jury Award at the

Marrakech International Film Festival The Marrakech International Film Festival (FIFM) ( ar, المهرجان الدولي للفيلم بمراكش, Amazigh ⴰⵏⵎⵓⴳⴳⴰⵔ ⴰⴳⵔⴰⵖⵍⴰⵏ ⵏ ⵍⴼⵉⵍⵎ ⴳ ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ ) is an international film festi ...

and the awards for Best Actress and Best Cinematography at the

Ouagadougou Panafrican Film and Television Festival 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 ...

Bibliography

Africans Making Slaves of Africans
Elvis Mitchell, The New York Times, 2001 July 11
Adanggaman (2000)
Allmovie, Todd Kristel, Access date: 2002 May 6 * Olivier Barlet
“A Reflection on Power: Interview of Olivier Barlet with Roger Gnoan M’Bala.”
Africiné, 1 Sept. 1999

References

External links

*
Filmic Discomfort: Adanggaman and the Legacy of Slavery in West Africa
2000 films Bambara-language films Ivorian drama films Films about royalty Films about slavery Films set in Africa 2000s French-language films Films set in the 1680s 2000 drama films Films set in pre-colonial sub-Saharan Africa Burkinabé drama films French drama films Swiss drama films 2000s French films 2000 multilingual films French multilingual films Swiss multilingual films {{FESPACO Best Cinematography Prize, state=expanded