Burkina Faso / 2004 / 30mins / Drama / Mooré and French

Safi, aged 8, lives in a village in Burkina Faso. One day, tragedy suddenly overtakes her life when her mother dies giving birth to her little brother. According to the local superstition, the child has to be eliminated to keep the evil eye at a distance. Safi, however, with the strength of her innocence devoid of prejudice, succeeds in saving the baby and flees to the unknown city to find refuge from the cruelty of adults. Then, as if by a miracle, the fate of the two children takes a turn for the better: after having experienced the obtuseness of those who passively accept cruel legacies only because they are imposed by tradition, they also discover the miraculous force of solidarity. Safi will not only find a new family, but in the microcosm of the market she will also meet many extraordinary mothers ready to nurse her little brother.

Raso Ganemtoré

Rasò Ganemtore was born in 1971 in Burkina Faso, where he started working as a DP assistant and a cameraman, before becoming an actor. He went to Italy and there he worked as an actor in many films including L’Albero delle pere. He shot his first film Bambini d’Africa in 1994 (co-directed with Alessandro Soetje) and won the FEDIC prize (San Giovanni Valdamo Festival) and the Montecatini Terme Festival prize. His other films include Daouda and the Goldmine (2001) and Safi, la petite mère (Safi, the Little Mother - 2004), which both received numerous awards in many festivals. Ganemtore was short-listed for the Djibril Diop Mambéty Prize in 2002. Learn More