"In 1978, I travelled for the first time in West Africa. More than a quarter of century later, I’m going back there, trying to find the people who had a strong influence on the young man I was back then..."
"Many things have changed. I meet Dade again, a wise man living in the Sahel desert. He's been blind for ten years, and welcomes me as a son. We talk about Chekene, one of his sons who left for Paris and whom he hasn't heard from for a long time. He asks me to find him…"
This film is a story of an African family, in two worlds: one in Africa with its traditions and hopes, the other one in Europe with its dreams and disappointments.
PLEASE NOTE : WE HAVE AN ENGLISH SUBTITLED VERSION AVAILABLE.
Technical data :
duration
52 minutes
camera
Christian von der Heyden
sound
Christian von der Heyden
editing
Daniel Coche
music
Drahmane Koulibaly
translations
Safiatou Traoré, Irène Arthur
a coproduction
dora films / Cagifragilis
grants
Agence culturelle d'Alsace,
Drac, Ministère de la Culture
festivals
Ecrans du Réel Le Mans France 2007 / FIFAI La Réunion 2008/ Quintessence - Festival International du Film de Ouidah Bénin 2009 : price for best documentary film/ Fespaco 2009 out of competition
In1907 EmileKuntz's father leftAlsace,thenGerman,forBrazil, where he diedtragicallya fewdaysafterhisarrival.Nearlyacenturylater,Emiledoes notknowmuch aboutthis storybutthismysteryhas haunted himlikeBrazilfascinates him.
The work of Emile Gallé (1846-1904) is one of the essential references in Art Nouveau. The master of the "Ecole de Nancy" was a glassmaker, a furniture designer, a ceramist, but also a committed humanist and a well-known botanist who has left an important scientific work.
Every year, in Munster, in the region of Alsace, a ball with a strange name takes place: the Widows' Ball. Disguised and masked, women are the ones who invite men to the dance.
