Belgium, Senegal and Burkina Faso / 2019 / 67mins / Documentary / French

In 2014, what the people of Burkina Faso wouldn’t dare imagine for decades suddenly became their new reality: the unyielding protests by the Burkinabè against Blaise Compaoré brought a forceful end to his 27 year dictatorship. Among the uprising’s most instrumental voices is Smockey, rapper and co-founder of Balai Citoyen, a movement of artists calling on youth to join the resistance. During the transitional period ushering in a democratically elected president, Smockey anticipates the tension between uncertainty and hope through political activism and the soundtrack of his socially conscious music.

Katy Lèna N’diaye

Katy Léna N'diaye, born in 1968, is a Senegalese-French documentary filmmaker, best known for her documentaries about women muralists in Africa. Born in Senegal, N'diaye grew up in Europe. She studied modern literature in Paris, and undertook further study in broadcast journalism. She has worked as a journalist for TV5 Monde and RTBF, and lives in Brussels, Belgium. N'diaye's documentary Traces – characterized by Elvis Mitchell in the New York Times as "visually sharp and lovingly informal" – focussed on mural painting by Kassena women in Burkina Faso. In the documentary, three elderly women explain the content of the murals covering the reddish-clay huts to Anetina, a young unmarried woman. Awaiting for Men documented three older women talking as they painted the town wall in Oualata, an oasis town on the edge of the Sahara Desert in southeast Mauritania. Parallel to her career as a filmmaker, Katy Léna Ndiaye works for television as well. From 2000 to 2018, she presented and later directed Reflets Sud and Afrique Plurielle CIRTEF productions, broadcast on TV5 Monde and the Belgian RTBF. Since 2013, she has been running Indigo Mood Films, a production company based in Senegal. Learn More