The Magicians of Wanzerbé

A Mossi magician prepares a magic charm which will make the women who are too thin, gain weight, and he sacrifices animals to the spirit that guides him. During a collective ceremony to protect the village from evil, another magician dances to ecstasy. The village chief, the magicians et the young boys take part in the sacrifice offered each year to the spirit of the mountain, which protects the village.

Jean Rouch

Jean Rouch is one of the most important anthropologists and representatives of ethnographic cinema, who also contributed greatly to the evolution of the French New Wave and cinéma vérité. With his richly varied work, the greater part of which was filmed in Africa, he broadened the ethnographic documentary’s horizons and set the foundation for the creation of ethnofiction, which blurred the boundaries between documentary and fiction.