Keita! The Voice of the Griot(1996)

Aníkúlápó(en)

After an affair with a queen leads to his demise, an eager traveler encounters a mystical bird with the power to give him another life.

Northfork(en)

The year is 1955, and a great flood is coming to Northfork, Montana. A new hydroelectric dam is about to be installed in the mountains above the town, ready to submerge the valley in the name of progress. It is the responsibility of a six-man Evacuation Committee to relocate the townsfolk to higher ground. Most have duly departed, but a few stubborn stragglers remain – among them a priest caring for a sickly orphan, a boy whose fevered visions are leading him to believe he is a member of a roaming band of lost angels desperately searching for a way home.

Mood Indigo(fr)

A woman suffers from an unusual illness caused by a flower growing in her lungs.

The King Tide(en)

After the mayor of an idyllic island village discovers a child with mysterious powers awash on their shores, the once peaceful community devolves into civil war, torn over the belief that the child is the next saviour.

Nine Days(en)

A bureaucrat interviews five souls to decide which of them will be given a life on Earth. But he soon faces an existential challenge of his own.

Mr. K(en)

Mr. K, a traveling magician, finds himself in a Kafkaesque nightmare when he can’t find the exit of his hotel. His attempts to get out only pull him deeper, entangling him further with the hotel and its curious inhabitants.

Franklyn(en)

Set between the parallel worlds of contemporary London and the futuristic faith dominated metropolis of Meanwhile City, Franklyn weaves a tale of four souls, whose lives are intertwined by fate, romance and tragedy. As these worlds collide, a single bullet determines the destiny of these four characters.

Jack the Giant Slayer(en)

The story of an ancient war that is reignited when a young farmhand unwittingly opens a gateway between our world and a fearsome race of giants. Unleashed on the Earth for the first time in centuries, the giants strive to reclaim the land they once lost, forcing the young man, Jack into the battle of his life to stop them. Fighting for a kingdom, its people, and the love of a brave princess, he comes face to face with the unstoppable warriors he thought only existed in legend–and gets the chance to become a legend himself.

City of Pirates(fr)

A surreal odyssey in which a melancholic maidservant crosses paths with a homicidal little boy, travels to a tiny island of pirates and encounters a man with multiple personalities.

Hilda and the Mountain King(en)

When Hilda wakes up in the body of a troll, she must use her wits and courage to get back home, become human again — and save the city of Trolberg.

A Dry White Season(en)

During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.

Donovan's Echo(en)

A series of uncanny déjà vu events force a man to re-examine his tragic past, memory, instinct, and future.

Hereafter(en)

Three people — a blue-collar American, a French journalist and a London school boy — are touched by death in different ways.

The Shepherd(en)

On Christmas Eve, a fighter pilot on his way home becomes lost while flying over water and needs a miracle to land safely.

The Truth About Emanuel(en)

A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.

Pinocchio(en)

The enchanted story of Pinocchio.

On the Edge(fr)

One night, Leo, a Spaniard working in Brussels as a subway driver, sees a young man on the edge of the platform, just before he falls onto the tracks.

Tuesday(en)

A mother and her teenage daughter must confront Death when it arrives in the form of an astonishing talking bird.

Man with No Past(en)

Waking up in an unfamiliar city, a man with no memory must confront the mysteries of his own identity. However, his desperate search to uncover the past pits him against a powerful enemy, leading to a showdown that ultimately reveals the truth.

Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon(en)

A young woman with psychokinetic powers breaks out of a Louisiana asylum and makes her way to New Orleans, where she falls into the city’s netherworld of misfits and miscreants.

Moolaadé(bm)

When a woman shelters a group of girls from suffering female genital mutilation, she starts a conflict that tears her village apart.

Crocodile Dance(en)

When an ancient water goddess threatens her town, Roukia, a silenced musician must reclaim her voice to break a generational curse and save herself and her family.

Everything Here Holds Its Inverse(en)

Set in a Burkina Faso organic cotton weaving cooperative, a cacophonous cotton-spinning apparatus eats, digests, and takes a breath. Threads become the organs of a whirling, burping, guzzling machine animated by hands, looms, vats, cogs, and feet. Where does the machine end and the body begin? The weaving cooperative promises equitable remuneration for workers in an industry beholden to its colonial predecessor: today, Burkinabè cotton farmers live in permanent debt to cotton companies financed by European capital. By focusing on the repetitive labor unfolding within a cooperative that claims to serve its workers, Everything Here Holds Its Inverse examines the tension between empowerment and evolving oppressions. Can the ties that bind and define also set free?

Land of Upright People(it)

October 2014. Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, is the scene of an unarmed uprising that ousts the dictator in power since 1987 and later staves off an attempted coup. In 2015, the country votes freely for the first time in its history, yet real change remains allusive, especially regarding ongoing economic exploitation by foreign companies. In one year of struggle and resistance, the film follows the daily life of four Burkinabes: a musician and leader of the revolution, a local political candidate, a miner engaged in the labor movement, and an impoverished mother, all sharing hopes that the elections will change the country’s path.

Ceux de la colline(en)

Like a modern-day version of Deadwood, a makeshift gold mine on the remote Diosso hillside in Burkina Faso has attracted a swarm of gold-diggers and dynamite blasters, healers and dealers, vendors and prostitutes, children, holy men and barbers. Living in the promiscuous closeness of a crowded and improvised gold town, these men and women are recklessly determined to find the gold that will change their lives. The film explores their desperate quest for fortune and elusive happiness. The gold rush is relentless.

Tales of Sand and Snow(fr)

In a quest to rediscover the spiritual values of his own people, an African filmmaker from the Gourmantche tribe of Burkina Faso visits an Aboriginal band, the Atikamekw of northern Quebec. The resulting documentary is a dialogue between those who divine the future in the sand with those who use snow-encased sweat lodges to reconnect with the spiritual world.

Crackle of Time: Christoph Schlingensief and his Opera Village in Burkina Faso(de)

Documentary about filmmaker, author, director, and performance artist Christoph Schlingensief and his last major project, building an opera village in Burkina Faso. What was initially planned as a festival theater soon developed into a more ambitious idea, and in addition to the theater, a school, a hospital, and living quarters for teachers and nursing staff were also planned. Beginning with the search for a suitable building site, the film also recounts the difficulties encountered during the work and Schlingensief's advancing cancer.

Mémoire entre deux rives(fr)

This documentary follows the traces of the French colonization of the country Lobi. In this region of southwestern Burkina Faso, there is not a village, not a family that does not remember the suffering brought by the colonizers. Confronted with the archival documents of the administrators, the oral tradition, through its numerous testimonies, allows us to trace back nearly a century of history, from the arrival of the first Whites until today. This word also testifies to the individual, social or religious consequences of this often painful history. Between the past and the present, between the living words and the writings of the colonists, "Mémoire entre deux rives" is as much a quest for Lobi identity as a reflection on "civilising" France.

Sankara et moi(fr)

At the time of the 30th anniversary of the death of Thomas Sankara, the African executive of a multinational mining company established in Africa, Tom - who has Americanized his first name Thomas - finds himself up against the ideal of his youth: each time he passes in front of a mirror, he sees himself with the red beret of the revolutionary leader on his head, and fears that his past will jeopardize his career...

Concerning Violence(sv)

Based on powerful archival material documenting the most daring moments in the struggle for liberation in the Third World, this documentary is accompanied by classic text from The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon.

Ouaga Girls(fr)

A group of young women from Ouagadougou study at a girl school to become auto mechanics. The classmates become their port of safety, joy and sisterhood, all while they are going through the life changing transition into becoming adults in a country boiling with political changes. In a country with youth unemployment at 52 percent, jobs are a hot issue. The young girls at a mechanics school in Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou are right in the middle of a crucial point in life when their dreams, hopes and courage are confronted with opinions, fears and society’s expectations of what a woman should be. Using interesting narrative solutions, Theresa Traore Dahlberg depicts their last school years and at the same time succeeds in showing the country’s violent past and present. This is a feature-film debut and coming-of-age film with much warmth, laughs, heartbreak and depth.

Sahel: Pátria ou Morte(pt)

For decades, the countries of the African Sahel region have been targets of colonialism and exploitation by France and other Western powers. This documentary addresses the popular resistance and new paths of development forged by Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali after experiencing civil and military uprisings in recent years. The film explores the popular resistance that sustains the revolution in the three Sahel countries and was made after extensive coverage of the ongoing social dynamics and geopolitical disputes.

Djembefola(fr)

African drummer leaves village, makes it big in the world. Great drumming!!

Mögöbalu, Les Maîtres des Tambours d'Afrique(fr)

Thomas Sankara: The Upright Man(fr)

Thomas Sankara, former president of Burkina Faso, was known as "the African Che", and became famous in Africa due to his innovative ideas, his devastating humor, his spirit and his altruism. More than a classic biography, this film sheds light on the impact that this man and his politic made on Burkina Faso and Africa in general.

Burkina Faso(xx)

Ouagadougou, September 2001: Adamà is a boy who is forced to leave school and work as a newsboy in order to pay for his sick mother's medical treatment. Two weeks after the attacks, Adamà sees a man who looks very similar to Osama bin Laden and decides to capture him with the help of his friends, in order to claim a $25 million bounty. Idrissa Ouédraogo's short for 11′09″01 September 11.

The Courage of Others(xx)

An inside look at slavery in the country of Burkina Faso, The Courage Of Others follows the journey of a slave (played by Sotigui Kouyaté) being taken across the African desert by his captors.

Burkinabè Rising - The Art of Resistance in Burkina Faso(fr)

BURKINABÈ RISING: the art of resistnace in Burkina Faso showcases creative nonviolent resistance in Burkina Faso. A small, landlocked country in West Africa, Burkina Faso is home to a vibrant community of artists and engaged citizens, who provide an example of the type of political change that can be achieved when people come together. It is an inspiration, not only to the rest of Africa but also to the rest of the world. Through music, film, ecology, visual art, and architecture, the people featured in this film are carrying on the revolutionary spirit of Thomas Sankara. After assuming the presidency in 1983, Sankara was killed in a 1987 coup d'état led by his friend and close advisor Blaise Compaoré, who subsequently ruled the country as an autocrat for twenty-seven years. In October 2014, a massive popular insurrection led to his removal. Today, the spirit of resistance is mightier than ever in Burkina Faso.

Mikelande: L'exil, la mémoire et le griot(fr)

Exiled after Haiti’s political struggles of the 90s, Mikerlande—a former activist and now entrepreneur—rekindles memories of resilience and commitment. Through griot, she shares a story of struggle, legacy, and strength, bridging past and present to preserve her heritage.

African Art in Performance: The Winiama Masks of the Village of Ouri, Burkina Faso(en)

African masks in performance: The spectacular masks of the Winiama people in the rural village of Ouri, in Burkina Faso, perform to reenact the encounters between the village ancestors and the spirits of the wilderness. This video emphasizes performance. There are lots of long takes of individual mask's performances from start to finish, with musical accompaniment, crowd reaction. Professor Roy has taught African art history at the University of Iowa for thirty years, and he has been doing research in Burkina Faso for thirty-seven years. He recently published The Land of Flying Masks: Art and Culture of Burkina Faso (Munich: Prestel, 2007).