FARO - GODDESS OF THE WATERS
FARO - LA REINE DES EAUX

France, Canada, Mali, Burkina Faso, Germany, 2007, 96 min, 35 MM
In Bambara with English subtitles

DIR: Salif Traoré
SCR: Salif Traoré, Olivier Lorelle
PROD: Philippe Quinsac, Daniel Morin, Baerbel Mauch, Salif Traoré, Ismaël Oueadrogo
DP: Jean-Pierre Gauthier
ED: Laure Budin
MUS: Bassékou Kouyaté
CAST: Sotigui Kouyate, Fili Traore, Michel Mpambara, Habib Dembele, Helene M. Diarra

In this assured debut from Salif Traore, a former assistant to Souleymane Cissé and Abderrahmane Sissako, we follow the story of an engineer who returns to his rural village in Mali many years after having been cast out for being born out of wedlock.

Zanga (Fili Traoré) returns to the village of his birth to uncover the identity of his father and initiate a waterworks project. However, the fact that his arrival coincides with the drowning of a young villager alerts the village elders, who confer and determine that Faro, the spirit who rules the waters has been angered by Zanga's return and the only way to appease her anger is with sacrifice.

The African landscape is photographed beautifully and the script, co-written by Salif Traoré and Olivier Lorelle deftly navigates the maelstrom of modern Africa while giving voice to the power of one individual to affect change.

Biography
Salif Traoré studied film and theater art at the Institut Africain du Cinéma of the University of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, the filmmaking center on the African continent. He has made several short films and documentaries for African television. FARO, GODDESS OF THE WATERS is Traoré's debut feature film.