Farafin ko, une courentre deux mondes

SYNOPSIS

Bobo Dioulasso, a million inhabitants, the second largest city in Burkina Faso after Ouagadougou; here as elsewhere in Burkina, life is organized within family “courses”. Innumerable, these courses are as many microcosms where the “way of doing” African, the “Farafin Ko”, synonymous with almost intangible relations of solidarity is perpetuated. This film invites us to enter one of these courses, to meet the Sissoko family. Alassane, central figure, is the only support. Around him live his two wives Djeneba and Fatoumata, his brother Ibrahim, elders, children, distant relatives but so close …

For a whole year, Farafin Ko follows the rhythm of this changing court. The family portrait is emerging, revealing from one generation to the next a contrasting, not to say contradictory, aspirations: a desire to perpetuate traditions, a dream of a better life in Europe, joys, mutual aid or daily rivalries. In contrast, the film also focuses on a “grin of tea” particularly lively, African agora where we meet at night, away, to speak more freely. Another dimension, more political, is revealed, highlighting the tensions that shake African minds, between community and individualism, temptation of withdrawal and awareness, world of yesterday and tomorrow’s world …