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Cultures-Fiji

Battle of sacred tree (The)

  • Bataille de l'arbre sacré (La) | Battle of sacred tree [...]
Genre : Drama
Type : Fiction
Original title :
Principal country concerned : Column : Cinema/tv
Year of production : 1994
Format : Feature
Running time : 84 (in minutes)

Traditional African beliefs come into conflict with missionary zeal in a Kikuyu village. There, life revolves around a sacred tree that exerts a strange power over everyone around it. Needless to say, Christian ladies see the tree only as a reminder of a pagan past. Standing against their plan to cut the tree down is Mumbi, daughter of an old-fashioned medicine man, who has returned from the city and an abusive husband. Her Polaroid snapshots of "the most dramatic occasion of the Feeling of the Sacred Tree" reunite the community in healing laughter.

Director: Wanjiru Kinyanjui 
Screenwriter : Wanjiru Kinyanjui, based on a short story by Barbara Kimenye
Production : Birne Film Kristov (Germany) / WDR (Germany) / Sender Freies Berlin (Germany) / Deutsche Film Und Fernseh Akademie Berlin (Germany) / Flamingo Films (Paris)
With : Margaret Nyacheo (Mumbi), Catherine Kariuki, Roslynn Kimani, Titi Wainaina
Photography : François Kotlarski
Sound : Hans-Joachim Beckmann
Editing : Eva Lopez Echegoyen
Music : Mamadou Mbayé
35 mm film

Language : Swahili - Subtitles in French, English or Spanish

Festivals:
GINDOU 1995
MILAN 1995 - International Catholic Organization for Cinema and Audiovisual Prize
FESPACO - February 95
MONTREAL 1995 - 11th Vues d'Afrique
EURO AIMS SCREENINGS DONOSTIA (San Sebastian) - July 95
MONTREAL 1996 - 12th Vues d'Afrique

Articles

3 files

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  • Alliance Française VANUATU
  • PACIFIC ARTS ALLIANCE
  • FURTHER ARTS

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