Keïta! l'Héritage du griot

Infobox Film
name = Keïta! l'Héritage du griot


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director = Dani Kouyaté
producer =
writer = Dani Kouyaté
narrator =
starring = Sotigui Kouyaté
music =
cinematography =
editing =
distributor =
released = 1995
runtime = 94 min.
country = Burkina Faso
language = French
budget =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0110252

"Keïta! l'Héritage du griot" (English title: "Keita! Voice of the Griot ") is a 1995 Burkinabé drama film directed by Dani Kouyaté and starring Sotigui Kouyaté.

Cast

*Seydou Boro: Sundjata Keita
*Hamed Dicko: Mabo Keïta
*Abdoulaye Komboudri: Drissa Fafana
*Sotigui Kouyaté: Djeliba Kouyate
*Claire Sanon: Sitan
*Blandine Yaméogo: Sogoton

Plot

"Keita" is a retelling of the first third of Sundjata Keita's 13th century epic, "Sundjata".Harvnb|Gugler|2003|p=38] It tells of Mabo Keïta (Dicko), a thirteen-year-old boy who lives in a middle-class family in Ouagadougou and attends a geed school. One day he encounters Djeliba Kouyate (Kouyate), an elderly griot who wants to tell the young Keïta the origin of his name, being related to Sundata (Boro). Kouyate begins his story with the Mandeng creation myth: As all living beings come together in the newly-formed Earth, one man proclaims to the masses that he wants to be their king. They respond, "We do not hate you." The old griot goes on to tell how Keita's family are descended from buffalo, the blackbirds are always watching him, and how people have roots that are deep in the earth. The film shows realistic-looking flashbacks to ancient times and ends with Sundjata Keita being exiled from the Kingdom of Mande, to which he lays claim.

Production

Dani Kouyaté directed a number of short films before the release of "Keita", his first full-length feature. The film's working title was "Keita: From Mouth to Ear".Harvnb|Gugler|2003|p=36] It was shot in the towns of Ouagadougou, Sindou, and Ouahabou.

Reception

"Keïta!" received the Best First Film Prize from the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (Fespaco) and was awarded the Junior Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. "The New York Times" praised the film, claiming it "succeeds admirably in keeping... history alive." [citation|url=http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B0CE3D71039F931A25757C0A960958260|title=Movie Review: Keita! The Voice of the Griot (1995)|last=Maslin|first=Janet|date=1996-04-12|newspaper=The New York Times|accessdate=2008-08-28] In a 1995 interview, Kouyate reflected on the experience and commenting on traditional society, saying:

Notes

References

*citation|last1=Baaz|first1=Maria Eriksson|last2=Palmberg|first2=Mai|title=Same and Other: Negotiating African Identity in Cultural Production|publisher=Nordic Africa Institute|location=Uppsala|date=2001|isbn=917106477X|oclc=48025721
*citation|last=Gugler|first=Josef|title=African Film: Re-Imagining a Continent|publisher=Indiana University Press|location=Bloomington, Indiana|date=2003|isbn=0253216435|oclc=52520253