The Fespaco Film Festival, held every year in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, is a pan-African Film Festival known especially for its outdoor film screenings. The festival is an important part of African culture as it gives native filmmakers a chance to screen their work for a large and prestigious audience. It is also important for the African people to have the opportunity to see films made by, for, and about, Africans in an industry which is so inundated with Western filmmaking. The outdoor movie screenings are often free, and may be the only opportunity locals have to see African films, or films at all. This is cinema in much of rural Africa: under the stars in the open air, surrounded by crumbling concrete, in a language people understand. Where cinemas are sparse and quality films are even fewer and farther between, occasional outdoor movies are often the only way rural Africans will experience the magic of the cinema. “Buud Yam” was one of the films screened at this year’s Fespaco Film Festival. It portrays the journey of a young man as he searches for a healer to save his sister. The following is a review of “Buud Yam” published by Variety magazine. You can read the original blog post about Fespaco’s outdoor movie screenings here.

To avoid his mother’s fate and save his sister, the youth sets forth on horseback on an arduous quest that will take him through forests and across deserts. At last, nearly dead himself, he stumbles onto a wise old healer whose potions cure Pughneere. With heartfelt apologies and much rejoicing, the villagers reinstate Wend Kuuni as a member in good standing of the community.

Fespaco Film Festival's Outdoor Movies are Introduced in Celebratory Style

On one level, the story is similar to Western and Eastern myths about the hero and his quest for a lost Grail, or, in this case, a magical medicine. Not only does it restore health to the sick girl, but it dissipates the clouds of superstition, intolerance and suspicion that hang over the otherwise happy village. Kabore’s message, arising out of the story itself, is that we must be tolerant of people different from ourselves.

As Wend Kuuni, Yanogo is a dignified young horseman with a faraway look in his eyes, who knows he is set apart from his native-born companions. It is easy to see why the two graceful teenage girls, Pughneere and her friend Komkieta (Severine Oueddouda), adore him. Last scene sets the stage for a third round of Wend Kuuni stories, as the young hero asks himself who his real father is.

Kabore is a masterful raconteur able to hold the viewer’s attention despite the typical slow pace of African films. He tells his story in exceptionally clear, simple images that are restful to look at, aided by Jean-Noel Ferragut’s sharp-edged cinematography. Composer Michel Portal adds an unexpected modern note to the timeless story through his musical commentary, combining native instruments with a soft jazz sound.

Source: Deborah Young -Variety. Read full review here: http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117329718.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&p=0.