Sékou, a young griot, guardian of memory, embarks on an initiatory road movie on the roads of the legendary Mandingo empire, in a West Africa shaken by modernity, in search of its common memory.

Sékou Timité has one ambition: to follow in his late father's footsteps and become a "Djeli", a griot, guardian of the oral memory in West Africa. The only one of his siblings to take an interest in the obsolete art of the griot, he leaves his family behind and sets off to confront the modern world on the roads of the legendary Mandingo Empire. Despite his doubts and the many obstacles of a sometimes chaotic present, he crosses paths with the greatest griots of the region or with simple individuals in contact with daily life. His initiatory journey becomes a poetic portrait of a West Africa in turmoil, in search of its common memory.

starring
Sékou Timité

a film by Boubacar SANGARÉ

IN PRE-PRODUCTION (in 2022)
Burkina Faso, Feature Documentary, 1h30

Original Title (French): DJÉLIYA, MÉMOIRE DU MANDINGUE
English Title: DJELIYA, MEMORY OF MANDINGO
Country: Burkina Faso
Type: Feature Documentary
Duration: 90' (1h30)
Language: Bambara

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
Sékou Timité comes from an old family of the "Djeli" caste, guardians of memory and customs in the ancient Mandingo Empire, which, in the 13th century, covered the current territories of Mali, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast...
In this globalised world ravaged by colonisation and its subsidies and confronted to perpetual ethnic conflicts, storytellers and their unifying role are neglected.
Sékou, the only one in his family wanting to take up his parent's torch, wants to rediscover the essence of the griot and adapt it to our world. He goes across countries to follow the griot's path and to get spiritually closer to this unknown father.
The film takes the form of an eminently poetic initiatory road-movie in West Africa, carried by the ever imaginative words of the griots. This intimate film about Sékou opens up the possibility of a subtle and poetic portrait of shared memory and life in West Africa from the perspective of these storytellers.



Producer / Productrice : Mamounata Nikiema (Pilumpiku Production)

Director / Réalisateur : Boubacar SANGARÉ
Screenwriter / Scénariste : Boubacar Sangaré

PRODUCTION
Pilumpiku Production (Burkina Faso)

CO-PRODUCTION :
DS Productions (Mali)
Lully Grace Production (ivory Coast)
Sunuy Films (Senegal)


FESTIVALS / PRIX
* Selection /// Fabrique des cinémas du monde de l'Institut français (Cannes Festival 2022, France).
* Selection (along with 5 other PanAfrican film projects) /// 1st edition of Sentoo program (Burkina Faso, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Tunisia), in May 2019.
* Selection /// RÉSIDENCE D'ÉCRITURE DE KAYES / MALI, du 21 septembre au 2 octobre 2014 (Trainer: Jean-Louis Gonnet)
* Project Selection /// Africadoc 2014, St-Louis, Sénégal

WEB / Africiné's sources :
www.docmonde.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/CATALOGUE-Africadoc-2014.pdf
https://ouicoprod.org/fiche/?id=100