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Toula
(Toula ou le genie des eaux)

Directed by Moustapha Alassane.
With Sotigui Kouyate, Damouré Zika, Solange Delanne.
Niger, 1973, digital video, color, 76 min.
French and Hausa with English subtitles.
Copy source: Institut Français

In the second of Alassane’s two mid-1970s feature films, he gives one of his beloved legends a broad canvas on which to play. When drought strikes a village, all pray to a mysterious and enormous serpent that promises to bring rain—if the king’s niece will be sacrificed to it. This mythic narrative serves as an allegorical cover for Alassane’s concerns about a Niger whose political class had grown increasingly cautious, passive and corrupt. The tale provides the filmmaker ample room to explore the landscape of a country he clearly loves.

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  • Shaki

    Directed by Moustapha Alassane.
    Niger, 1973, 16mm, color, 25 min.
    French and Hausa with English subtitles.
    Print source: Institut Français

Shaki is a region of Niger where traditional systems of governance and belief have survived centuries of migration and colonization. Though more recent religions such as Islam and Protestantism thrive there, they must make way for far older rites and beliefs. This film is Alassane’s ethnographic portrait of the region on the occasion of the coronation of a new tribal leader.

Part of film series

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From the collection – Satyajit Ray