Cinema
Si les cavaliers…
Mamane Bakabé · 1982
Synopsis
In Zinder, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the young sultan of Damagaram, Amadou Dan Bassa, struggles to bear the condescension of Captain Lefèvre, the abuses of the colonial system and the slow destruction of his kingdom. With a few notables, among them the trader Malam Yaro, the interpreter Ali Diallo and the envoy Dan Gougouwa, he prepares the attack on the French garrison, has the great malam consulted on the moment to act and sends to ask for the support of a neighbouring emir. But palace intrigues threaten the secret.
Context
The subject comes from a play by André Salifou, historian of the Damagaram, whose title is close to that of the film; Salifou himself wrote the screenplay. The state radio and television provided the production, Boubacar Souna operated the camera, Mark Hun Kill edited, and the Dom Bassa orchestra supplied the music. The film retells the plot hatched in 1905 in Zinder against the French garrison of Camp Cazemajou, and its failure. The full title, in the play as on the posters, adds a second part.
Who it is for
One hour thirty. It helps to know that the Damagaram was an independent sultanate whose capital was Zinder, and that the French columns subdued it at the turn of the century.
Prizes and reception
Shown at the Carthage Film Festival in 1982, it made its author famous in Niger and is one of the few feature-length fiction films made in the country.