Yaaba

Bila, a ten year old boy becomes friends with an old woman called Sana who has been accused of witchcraft and is rejected by her village. While everybody calls her 'witch' Bila is unafraid and calls her 'Yaaba' (grandmother). When Bila´s cousin Nopoko falls sick the medicine man insists that Sana has stolen the girl´s soul. Sana undergoes a long and gruelling journey to find a medicine to save Nopoko's life. Sana manages to save Nopoko's life, but is still treated as a witch. After Sana dies, the real reason why she is hated in the village is uncovered, but the love and wisdom she invested in Bila and Nopoko lives on.

Yaaba is indeed one of the finest African films. A beautifully filmed morality tale of superstition and intelligence, it touchingly conveys the humanity of its characters and offers a message of tolerance. And it is one of the few African films at this time to have achieved a measure of commercial distribution.
This film brought international recognition to the director Idrissa Ouedraogo, winning the International Critics Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, the Special Jury Prize at FESPACO, and the Sakura Gold Prize at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

BF, 1989, 90 min, Idrissa Ouedraogo

Shortfilm:

Walk with me

The 5-year-old Melanie lives in the countryside of Uganda. Full of life and living-toys she finds herself pushed out of daydreams and discovers death. But her toys and not least her vivid imagination helps and life goes on.

UG/ DK, 2014, 13 min, Johan Oettinger/ Peter Tukei Muhumuza