This film is a moving tribute to French filmmaker Jean Rouch. Pauwels, a former collaborator of Rouch, accompanies him on a trip to Japan. In this cinematic letter, which he himself calls “a journey into the memory”, Pauwels philosophises about the essence of cinema and, consequently, of life.
Three pioneers of documentary filmmaking – Joris Ivens, Henri Storck, and the man behind the camera, Jean Rouch – recall the early days of the documentary genre and speak about their creative methods and sources of inspiration. This lively discussion between the directors is shot in cinéma...
In a busy, noisy neighborhood, a frustrated young wife in a failing marriage is offered her freedom by her indifferent husband, but has second thoughts after meeting an intriguing stranger.
Funeral rituals for the traditional leader Moro Naba of the Mossi at Ougadougou, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso). Election ceremonies for his successor. Preparing the feast for the end of mourning. Ceremony in the palace, the people of Ougadougou, the warriors in traditional dress.
Life in a community of Harist disciples in the village of Bregbo, Côte d'Ivoire, under the aegis of their "prophet" Alberto Atcho. 50 km from Abidjan, magician Albert Archo treats the sick, most of them mentally ill. Through a combination of public confession and the use of local medicinal plants,...
In 1946 ethnographic researcher Rouch had attempted to film a "Bangaoui," a hippopotamus hunt along the river Niger, but the results were unsatisfactory.Five years later, he returns and makes the extra effort to get it right this time.
Lightning struck the hut of a Fulani shepherd near a village of settled fishermen, Ganghel, in Niger. A yenendi, a purification ceremony to obtain "water from the sky but not fire from the sky", is organized, with Sorko priests, ritual musicians and dancers, and the faithful from Niamey. The...
The fifth year of the Sigui ceremonies, celebrated every sixty years by the Dogons of the Bandiagara cliffs, Mali, takes place in the village of Idyeli.
In the village of Simiri, Niger, fisherman Daouda is also a priest of the cult of Dongo, the god of Thunder for the Songhay people. He tells the god's legend by illustrating his account with drawings sketched in the sand at his feet.
A group of factory workers in post-independence Mozambique performs a ritual of song describing their work in South African gold mines, and decrying the evils of apartheid.
A portrait of Zomo, the second of Damouré Zika’s many children. Employed at the zoo of the National Museum of Niger in Niamey, he offers us a tour, showing us the animals he takes care of. Then, when the work is finished, he invites us to an impromptu concert by “Jeunesse Gawey,” the...
An anthropological study of a cargo cult in a fictitious self-marginalized commune, which existed next to the Moscow Ring Road - a highway that marks the boundaries of the Russian capital - and survived mainly on roadside trash. Although the road provided for their basic needs, the existence of the...
