Screening of Faro, Queen of the Waters (VOSTF)

This 2007 film by Salif Traoré deals with the complex conflict between tradition and modernity in a Malian village.

Faro the queen of waters

By Salif Traoré

Mali / France / Canada / Burkina Faso / Germany -

2008 - 1h36 - VOSTF

With Sotigui Kouyaté, Fili Traoré, Diénéba Koné, Modibo D.

Traoré, Habib Dembélé, Maimouna Hélène Diarra, Michel

Moambara.

On the banks of the Niger River in Mali, Sakoro is a small fishing village. Water is everywhere and has something of a sea about it, its bed is so wide. The land also seems isolated, like a small island that the film will never leave. Zan, born here, left long ago.

He returns one morning at the wheel of his 4x4, carrying measuring tools that contrast with the local craftsmanship. It could be the arrival of the pro-dike son, it's the return of the bastard. His mother welcomes him with a mixture of joy and reluctance: he has come to discover who his father is. His arrival coincides with the sudden movements of Faro, the spirit of the river... By pushing the villagers to modernize the management of the nearby river, he confronts their inaction.

• A humanist fable... Salif Traoré simply pleads for a modernized Africa where knowledge, a school of tolerance, would finally open a window on the world. Télérama

• • Salif Traoré evokes the opposition between rational knowledge, symbolized by Zan, and magical belief.

The World

• • Salif Traoré depicts rural Malian life, torn between respect for traditions and modernity... Just as a screenplay sometimes comes directly from literature, even outside of adaptations, here it comes from the tale. Clear figures of characters who draw all social classes, great timeless questions and strong presence of orality and gestures. The marriage with cinema is successful, the acting does not weigh down the image as we sometimes see. After having been assistant director of Souleymane Cissé's The Wind in 1982, Yeelen in 1987), and Abder-rahmane Sissako (Life on Earth, 1997), Salif Traoré finds in Faro, the Queen of the Waters a beautiful independence... Zan the Malian who wants modernity is of course Salif Traoré's cinematic double. Films by Western directors on Africa are often poorly perceived, too attached, with or without reason, to a Western perspective. Hence the importance of this message and the development of truly local production. By shooting his film in high-definition digital format with the aim of employing and training Malian technicians, Salif Traoré pursues his desire for modernization beyond the film itself, with discretion and consistency. Critikat.com