Honoring Black Ancestors : ANYONE GOT SARRAOUNIA??

[soulosophy]

SARRAOUNIA

Does anyone happen to possess a copy or know where I can get a copy of the Afrikan epic film Sarraounia (1986) by Afrikan producer & director Med Hondo??

I've searched till I'm blue in the face and even tried to contact the producer but no luck so far.

This true story of Sarraounia echoes the major roles Afrikan women played throughout ourstory in leading male warriors in battle against their oppresors. In 1899 Queen & Priestess Sarraounia led her army in the Battle of Lougou against French colonislist in Afrika whilst many of the Kingdoms submitted Islamic pressure to relinquish their Afrikan Traditional Religions. The term sorceress was used to describe her magickal powers which was uses as well as military might to confront the oppressors.

She was ruler of an animist group of Eastern Hausa. Queen Sarraounia of the Aznas in Africa fought French colonists in 1899. While some kingdoms readily collaborated with the French in the hope of finally subduing her and her kingdom, and others capitulated without a fight, she mobilized her people and resources, military as well as magical, to confront the French force which launched a fierce attack on her fortress capital of Lougou. Overwhelmed by the superior firepower of the French, she and her fighters retreated tactically from the fortress, and engaged the attackers in a protracted guerrilla battle which eventually forced the French to abandon their project of subduing her. Sarraounia means queen or chiefess, and among the Azna people of Lougou and surrounding Hausa towns and villages, the term refers to a lineage of female rulers who exercised both political and religious power. The 1986 film Sarraounia is based on her life.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarraounia

To read on Niger and Sarraounia: one hundred years of forgetting female leadership.
Publication: Research in African Literatures
Publication Date: 22-MAR-09
Author: Alou, Antoinette Tidjani

Read here: http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-36691601_ITM

Love, Peace!

 

[phynxofkemet]

I will help you search

because I too will be interested in viewing the film. Great subject Sister Soul! Inspirational and liberating, what a combination. Ahhh.....

 

[Blaklioness]

Try this link.....


http://www.medhondo.com/menuvideo.html

SARRAOUNIA

Does anyone happen to possess a copy or know where I can get a copy of the Afrikan epic film Sarraounia (1986) by Afrikan producer & director Med Hondo??

I've searched till I'm blue in the face and even tried to contact the producer but no luck so far.

This true story of Sarraounia echoes the major roles Afrikan women played throughout ourstory in leading male warriors in battle against their oppresors. In 1899 Queen & Priestess Sarraounia led her army in the Battle of Lougou against French colonislist in Afrika whilst many of the Kingdoms submitted Islamic pressure to relinquish their Afrikan Traditional Religions. The term sorceress was used to describe her magickal powers which was uses as well as military might to confront the oppressors.

She was ruler of an animist group of Eastern Hausa. Queen Sarraounia of the Aznas in Africa fought French colonists in 1899. While some kingdoms readily collaborated with the French in the hope of finally subduing her and her kingdom, and others capitulated without a fight, she mobilized her people and resources, military as well as magical, to confront the French force which launched a fierce attack on her fortress capital of Lougou. Overwhelmed by the superior firepower of the French, she and her fighters retreated tactically from the fortress, and engaged the attackers in a protracted guerrilla battle which eventually forced the French to abandon their project of subduing her. Sarraounia means queen or chiefess, and among the Azna people of Lougou and surrounding Hausa towns and villages, the term refers to a lineage of female rulers who exercised both political and religious power. The 1986 film Sarraounia is based on her life.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarraounia

To read on Niger and Sarraounia: one hundred years of forgetting female leadership.
Publication: Research in African Literatures
Publication Date: 22-MAR-09
Author: Alou, Antoinette Tidjani

Read here: http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-36691601_ITM

Love, Peace!

 

[soulosophy]

Try this link.....


http://www.medhondo.com/menuvideo.html

Thank you for this . Bless you. I had tried Med Hondo's site prior to posting this thread. I thought I was in luck when I saw the site but the movie only plays for about a minute and then stops. I even rebooted my PC hoping it was my internet connection but still no luck... Absolutely devastated!!

Love, Peace!

 

[soulosophy]

because I too will be interested in viewing the film. Great subject Sister Soul! Inspirational and liberating, what a combination. Ahhh.....

Thank you sis Phynx... much appreciated. I will contact the BBC here in London as well as FESPACO and let ya know how I get on.

What is Fespaco?

FESPACO, the Pan-African film and television festival, is the biggest, regular cultural event on the continent with thousands expected to attend this year. The festival is a source of huge pride to the people of Ougadougou.

FESPACO was started in 1969, and is held every two years. This year hundreds of films, and television and video productions will be featured. But the festival is not just a showcase for new films; it provides an opportunity for hundreds of directors, producers, distributors and actors to meet up, do deals in private, and debate in public. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/fespaco/what_is.shtml

I am on a mission to have a good selection of Afrikan films by Afrikan producers and directors. There is another film I'd like to get hold of also called Yeelen (Mali, 1987) directed by Souleymane Cisse about a young Afrikan man who uses rituals and magick to try to destroy the corrupt elite.

REVIEW YEELEN:
Suleyman Cisse's classic was to me an ode to the African imagination, beautifully shot and carrying with it the kind of narrative that makes up so much of African history - the past, with its armies and kings, hard to recreate in this age of McDonalds and the Global Village.

Yeelen was purely African, it made sense to see it at an African film festival. Where it lacked in narrative strength, it made up for it visually -- so addictive without really trying.

The film is set in a powerful Mali empire during the 13th century. According to California Newsreel, the film's distributor: "The film tells the story of Nianankoro, a young warrior, destined to destroy a corrupt older elite, the secret Komo cult and with it his father, and necessarily, himself. And so we are transformed to a world of miracles, magic potions, fetishes - in a time when men could summon lightning, where dogs could walk backwards at a wizard's bidding, and women purified themselves by washing in milk."

Filmmakers on the continent strive for this, this spilling out of the African imagination, by using images that consume us in our awe of fetishes and love of animism and a realm of reality far removed from the one we know. Yeelen is the film that said to me "There are no rules - if you think your Africa is like this, write it this way."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/fespaco/interviews_reviews_fav.shtml

ANOTHER REVIEW:

Niankoro (N.) has some sort of magical powers. He and his mom have been hiding out, but dad is hot on their trail, so they go off to find help. While she prays in the swamp, pouring milk over herself, N goes looking for an uncle. His father Soma has a magical post (and two non-magical post-carriers, AND a twin brother with his own post) which may lead him to N. N stops in a village, tries to help out, defeats some bandits and offers to help the king impregnate his youngest wife. But then N impregnantes her himself and gets to keep her. N finally gets a wooden wing from the good uncle, combines it with the gem he got from mom, and confronts his dad with apocalyptic results. Overall, it’s sort of a goofy Western. Or a Malian Star Wars?

The web tells me “Yeelen is the adaptation to film of one of the great oral epics of the Bambara people, set in the thirteenth century, during the period of the Mali Empire.” Katy sent me a long PDF file explaining the mythology but I haven’t read it yet.

Read rest here : http://deeperintomovies.net/journal/archives/323

Love, Peace!