Rokia Traore Movies
- 2007
First-time feature filmmaker Salif Traore follows in the footsteps of master filmmaker Ousmane Sembene with this drama that follows a bastard who returns to his rural Mali village after being cast out many years back. Zanga (Fili Traoré) was born out of wedlock, making him a figure of scorn to the locals. Many years after being unceremoniously ejected from the village, Zanga returns wearing the façade of a successful engineer determined to usher his village into the modern era - much to the consternation of the superstitious villagers who previously shunned him. When a young villager drowns in a nearby river, the locals draw the conclusion that river goddess Faro is enraged by Zanga's return. But Zanga isn't about to be run off before he finds out the identity of his biological father and helps improve the lives of the local villagers. Meanwhile, as the tide of anger grows, the local chief makes the call for a sacrifice. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fily Traore, Djénéba Koné, (more)
In this bizarre surrealist comedy from France, a handful of oddball characters live in world where people heap strange forms of abuse on animals -- dwarves stage bullfights with rhinos, zoos open restaurants where the privileged can dine on the animals on display, and the wealthy lock themselves into their mansion with the angry pit bulls trained to protect them. In the midst of such madness, a stocky animal handler (Gustave Kervern) who can neither hear nor speak falls in with a pair of dissolute zookeepers (Benoit Delepine and Eric Martin) who are hooked on ketamine and shoot one another with tranquilizer darts for fun. The zookeepers involve their new friend in a crazy scheme to kidnap the pet dog of a very wealthy and extremely large woman, Avida (Velvet), but the three men prove to be wildly inept criminals, and once they're found out, Avida forces them to help her in a plan to take her own life. Featuring a cameo appearance from acclaimed filmmaker Claude Lelouch, Avida was written and directed by Benoit Delepine and Gustave Kervern, who also act in the film; it received its American premiere at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gustave Kervern, Benoit Delepine, (more)
