SI-GUÉRIKI LA REINE-MÈRE

SI-GUÉRIKI LA REINE-MÈRE

Country/ies
France
Production
Editor
Length
63
Original Language
Original language
Status
Completed
Completed in
2002
Eurodoc Participant
No items found.
Eurodoc Producer
No items found.
Year participation
2000
Distribution

The Wassangaris, formerly a tribe of powerful, ferocious warriors with strict traditions, have managed to preserve their age-old patriarchal clan structure within the present-day Benin society. The film takes an inside, sometimes critical and often amused, look at certain aspects of this ancient culture.After a ten-year absence, the filmmaker goes back to his village in North Benin. His father, who had greatly influenced his childhood, is now dead. He is very surprised at the place his mother now occupies. During his childhood, she was no more that one of his father's co-wives, a shadow around the house... Yet after her husband's death, she was enthroned as Si-Gueriki, the female equivalent of a king.What does the status of queen-mother really mean? What does she think of her former life and the fact that her daughters have not attended school? In getting to know his mother and the women in his family, the filmmaker hopes to bring in light the seeds of change within this patriarchal society.

Festivals & Awards
Production & financial support

2003 • IFFR - International Film Festival Rotterdam • Rotterdam (Pays-Bas) • Sélection

2003 • Viennale - Vienna International Film Festival • Vienne (Autriche) • Sélection

2002 • États généraux du film documentaire • Lussas (France) • Sélection

2002 • Cinéma du réel • Paris (France) • Sélection française

2001 • Images en bibliothèques • Paris (France) • Film soutenu par la Commission nationale de sélection des médiathèques