Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1995
Keta! l'Hritage du griot
Buy Keta! l'Hritage du griot now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'Keta! l'Hritage du griot' (English title: 'Keita! Voice of the Griot') is a 1995 Burkinab film directed by Dani Kouyat and starring Sotigui Kouyat. It is an adaptation of the first third of the 13th-century 'Epic of Sundiata', interspersed with scenes of a griot telling the story to a young child.
Plot
'Keta' follows Mabo Keta (Dicko), a thirteen-year-old boy who lives in a middle-class family in Ouagadougou and attends a good school. One day he encounters Djeliba Kouyate (Kouyat), an elderly griot, who wants to tell the young Keta the origin of his name, being related to Sundjata Keita (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.
Cast
*Seydou Boro as Sundjata Keita
*Hamed Dicko as Mabo Keta
*Abdoulaye Komboudri as Drissa Fafana
*Sotigui Kouyat as Djeliba Kouyate; Sotigui Kouyat is the father of the director of the film, Dani Kouyat
*Claire Sanon as Sitan
*Blandine Yamogo as Sogolon
Production
Dani Kouyat directed a number of short films before the release of 'Keta', his first full-length feature. The film's working title was 'Keita: From Mouth to Ear'. It was shot in the towns of Ouagadougou, Sindou, and Ouahabou.
The assistant director was Alidou Badini.
Reception
'Keta!' 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." In a 1995 interview, Kouyate reflected on the experience and commenting on traditional society, saying:
Notes
References
*
*
Buy Keta! l'Hritage du griot now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 1995