Discoveries from Benin World Cinema

Feature film that played at FESPACO in 2007.

France, 2033. Olivier, an engineer, and Pauline, a teacher, decide to emigrate to the United States of Africa because they can no longer live in their country.

Recording a 24-hour period throughout every country in the world, we explore a greater diversity of perspectives than ever seen before on screen. We follow characters and events that evolve throughout the day, interspersed with expansive global montages that explore the progression of life from birth, to death, to birth again. In the end, despite unprecedented challenges and tragedies throughout the world, we are reminded that every day we are alive there is hope and a choice to see a better future together. Founded in 2008, it set out to explore our planet's identity and challenges in an attempt to answer the question: Who are we?

Founded three hundred years ago as a refuge from slave traders, Ganvié, in Benin, has become the largest stilt village in Africa and now attracts thousands of tourists. But the people of the water, who once resisted colonization, are today colonized by a new invader: the water hyacinth. Said to have been introduced to decorate hotels and luxury homes, this plant now spreads at a staggering and uncontrollable rate, suffocating the lake. A small Beninese company has managed to turn this scourge into a resource—but at the cost of exhausting labor. Raw realism and imaginary visions blend together, as if one could only be understood—or endured—through the lens of the other.

Abeni is in love with Akanni, the son of Chief Bello's former gateman. But Chief Bello is not in support of his daughter's intention to marry a pauper's son. Will Chief Bello succeed in breaking the bond between the lovebirds?

Vodoun Gods On The Slave Coast explores the ceremonial splendor of sacred dance and ritual in Benin, the birthplace and cradle of Vodoun. Formerly known as Dahomey, Benin was also called the Slave Coast due to its importance in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Today, the worship and supplication of Vodoun gods remains integral to everyday life in Benin.

Djibril, nicknamed Djib, is a 13 year old black teenager, a rebel of the 90s, who lives with his grandmother in Asnières. He has a strange philosophy that he has posted above his bed: "A black person must never let himself be called the n-word by someone other than a black person, it's the worst insult". He is in love with Joséphine, an "Arab-Gauloise fatou" and decides to offer her a dream vacation.

In Burkina Faso, young men look under the earth for gold – and a better future. As a result, 16-year-old Rasmané barely seems like a teenager any more. This mainly observational film follows him into the 100-metre abyss of small-scale mining.

The president of an African country, suffering from seeing its rich natural resources exploited only by western corporations, decides to nationalize all means of production built on the territory by foreigners.

In Ouidah, Benin, the district "The Pantheon of Joy". At 12 years old, fatherless, one's eyes widen before the villa of a Big Brother who seems to have conquered Europe. To quench one's hunger, to sing, to ask for alms. And dreaming.

A sacrifice ritual in Dahomey [Benin].

Two men meet on a casting bench installed on the shore of a beach. Suddenly, a love story is born.

A young peasant, Boubacar, owner of a corn field, wants to break free of his wretched existence and has an idea for a new job. He sells his field and uses the money to buy a broken-down old Peugeot 504 from an European couple. Boubacar wants to try his hand at being a bush taxi driver. But very soon, he sees that his dream cannot become reality : the engine of the old jalopy dies on him. Boubacar is ruined. His wife is forced into prostitution in the corn fields to meet the family's needs. But Boubacar is a resourceful, philosophical man. He strips the car down and uses the engine of the 504 as a barbecue to sell grilled corn in the streets. His hopes of being rich are renewed.

An in depth look at ‘FRAPP’, a collective of young Senegalese activists in Dakar, as the country prepares for its most decisive presidential election since independence in 1960. How far are they prepared to go to succeed in their struggle?

Combining poetry, dance, music, and archival audio, Danse Macabre paints a portrait of the human psyche, drawing on the work of Dr Carl Jung. The film explores the different aspects of the conscious and unconscious minds which are represented through character performances from dancers, singers, unseen voices, and musicians. Underscoring the film is the wisdom of ancestral memory, depicted via the embodied knowledge of the Yoruba Egúngún masquerade. The work is an inquiry into the human condition, exploring the parallels between modern psychology, aspects of Yoruba culture, and east Asian understandings around life force and energy.

Josette, 75, struggling with her loneliness, meets Sarah, a young woman from her neighborhood. The two women, of diametrically opposed personalities, become acquainted, and gradually, all of Josette’s points of reference, linked to family ties, are shattered.

lsény Camara is physically handicapped and needs to beg for money in order to provide for his family. This changes when he takes part in the creation of an artistic group "the handicapables" consisting of handicapped people performing dances and music, touring Africa and France.

This film follows Maria Esther, Jose Agrippino's partner, as she falls into a trance; the film takes place in the day-to-day setting of a room looking out over the beach and over the roofs of a house in North Africa.

In the heart of the ancient Benin Kingdom, one man’s courage would shape history forever. Uti, the brave son of Ozede, faces a divine challenge — to confront a mighty elephant, the ultimate symbol of strength and destiny. His triumph transforms him into EZOMO N’UTI, a warrior whose name will echo through the ages.

Agouénou, a newcomer to a government agency, takes on the entrenched corruption and butts heads with the leader of the old-guard, Sénou. The film features music composed and performed by Nigerian Afrobeat luminary Fela Kuti.

Every people, every human being, has a need to assert themselves. However, one can only assert oneself through one’s culture. My Father is Goun and my Mother is Natemba. It was in the quest to learn more about my identity Nateni that the idea of making a documentary was born, to arouse the desire to perpetuate this architecture and thus contribute to the influence of universal civilization.

A young anthropologist is invited by the Batammariba people in northern Benin to help document and restore the architectural heritage of their typical takyienta houses. While working closely with the last inhabitants of these traditional structures, the community shares myths, rituals, and stories that testify to a deep connection with nature.

Documentary dedicated to Patrice Lumumba. FESPACO 1985: Prize of the city of Ouagadougou and special mention of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). Prize of the House of Friendship of the USSR with the Peoples of Africa and the Whole World.

When Yacumba the Queen of Circles is attacked by the Man in Red, her Power Heart is Gone, she and her Royal subject Vangirai would travel through Arastasia and Fight the Queen of Triangles to Get it Back.

Honoré and Grégoire prepare their mother’s funeral. They are faced with the common and individual expenses inherent to funerals in Porto-Novo (Benin). Money is the nerve of their concern.

Documentary about an Ivorian emigration agency.

Oseye, a young American-Beninese girl, moves back to Benin with her mother and discovers her new surroundings.

In the deserts of Benin, shepherds struggle with droughts and a changing environment as they herd animals through ancestral lands.

Sètchémè (20 years old) is a young albino girl. She is different from her parents and her sisters, who, on the other hand, are “normal”. She does not accept herself. She feels alone and wonders who she is. But her friend, Mélanie, leads her to smile, dream and think about love.

Director Hawa Aliou N'Diaye explores Malian tradition, myth, and the ethereal through interviews with women who-like her-claim to be possessed by enigmatic spirits known as jinn.

Spreading across the beach and streets of Benin. A moving letter from a mother to her future daughter expresses the challenges and joys of growing up as a woman. Through song and dance, a tribe of women dispels fairy tale myths to focus on the embodied values of female power: strength, independence, and self-esteem. Their rebellious spirits find freedom and joy through the rhythm of their bodies: they clap, shake their shoulders, sway their hips, and stomp their feet, giving way to their bold dreams of femininity.

Son du Serpent tells the story of a modern African in his frantic search for his wife who disappeared. The film unfolds as a road movie. Longing for his beloved the man wanders around in a supernatural reality – aware that he may have lost her in this invisible world.

This is a tragic story of Freedom, Despair, and then Revelation And you'll see it through the EYES of an Attacker or a Victim and then, you'll decide and judge with your EYES and HEART.

In 1964 in a village in Bénin, an oracle predicts a bright future but also a bad omen for the baby KEMI. Sixteen years later, the future of KEMI, now a brilliant student, is called into question by the authority of her selfish and corrupt father, who offers her in marriage to a rich polygamist.

A group of young students visits a remote village in Bénin, but when the village monarch chooses one of them to be his new wife, trouble erupts.

A 28-year-old African woman dreams of becoming a model. In the meantime, she works as a hairdresser to save money for a modelling course.