The Heritage of the Griot

Dir. Dani Kouyaté , 1995

-
Thu 6 December 2007 // 19:00 / Cinema

This haunting film, from Burkina Faso has been programmed in partnership with tomorrow night's A Bit Crack storytelling guest, one of Britain's best-loved storytellers Sally Pomme Clayton.

"Listen carefully... Everything started with the bad fortune of a poor antelope..." Griot
The man telling the story is Djéliba Kouyaté. At the end of his life, this old griot desperately wants to tell young Mabo Keïta the story of the origin of his name. A name closely associated with a saga, that of the founder of the Mandingo Empire, Sundjata Keïta, the son of the ugly, hunchbacked buffalo woman.
Mabo’s imagination brings the legendary 13th century back to life. Fascinated by the story he plays truant to be able to listen to the old griot tell the story.
Of course this leads to trouble but the story follows its course...

DOUBLE BILL WITH STORY TELLING EVENING ON FRI 7 DEC...

This haunting film, from Burkina Faso (one of the centres of African cinema), has been programmed in partnership with tomorrow night's A Bit Crack storytelling guest: Sally Pomme Clayton. One of Britain's best-loved storytellers and a lecturer on world oral traditions at Middlesex University, Sally chose this film in homage to the long history of spoken storytelling that pre-exists the written word.

SPECIAL DOUBLE TICKET: £7/6 for this event and A Bit Crack on Dec 7 (normal ticket price: £4/3)