OUAGA SAGA

Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. In a poor quarter of the city, a group of young people get by as they dream of a better life and face a thousand temptations. Money is almost always lacking; what replaces it is resourcefulness, small tricks and the group’s solidarity. Out of their attempts to get hold of money without losing sight of their own plans grows a sequence of episodes from the everyday life of the city. Dani Kouyaté from Burkina Faso shot “Ouaga Saga” in 2004, from a screenplay by Jean-Denis Berembaum and Michel Mifsud.

The film deliberately banishes gloom and settles on a resolutely optimistic view of its characters; it is conceived as a light comedy, 86 minutes long. It premiered in 2005 at FESPACO, the pan-African film festival in Ouagadougou. “Ouaga Saga” was shown at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in 2006.