Burkina Faso / 1992 / 90mins / Drama / Mooré

A peddler is found dead in a village alley - the local police go through all the 'normal' procedures they have so laboriously learned from their former French colonizers - for solving crime and punishing the guilty. However, the villagers have their own methods of justice, handed down through centuries of communal judicial practice. The methods of the villagers appear to be infinitely more successful. As the conflict escalates, one is drawn into the eternal melting pot of a once thriving social fabric now in the throws of paralysis as a consequence of unfamiliar bureaucratic procedures and red tape.

Nissi Joanny Traoré

Nissi Joanny Traoré was born in Takaledougou, Burkina Faso in 1952 and is a graduate of the INCA in Paris. He has taught cinematographic techniques in Burkina Faso and is presently National Director of Cinematographic production in Burkina Faso. His first two feature films, The Other School (1985) and Sababu (1992), both won prizes at the international festivals. Learn More

Kollo Daniel Sanou

Kollo Daniel Sanou was born in 1949 in Borodougou in Burkina Faso. He studied at the Institut National des Arts in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, and at the Conservatoire Libre du Cinéma Français in Paris, France. He has made over 25 documentary and cartoon films since 1977. His first film was Paweogo (The Immigrant), released in 1982 with production by CINAFRIC, a company set up by local businessman Martial Ouédraogo to produce and distribute local Burkinabé films. However, shortly after the completion of the film, CINAFRIC went bankrupt and had to close due to lack of investment. Paweogo would be the only film the company ever produced. The film was, however, nominated for that year's FESPACO awards. Sanou served as director and screenwriter for the 2004 film Tasuma, a comedy-drama of a Burkinabé war veteran who had fought for France abroad returning to his home village. The film was well received by critics. In 2001, he helped with the television production Taxi brousse, for which he directed 8 films. Learn More