| Yeelen | |
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 VHS cover | |
| Directed by | Souleymane Cissé |
| Written by | Souleymane Cissé |
| Produced by | Souleymane Cissé |
| Starring |
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| Cinematography |
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| Music by | |
Release dates |
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Running time | 105 min. |
| Country | Mali / Burkina Faso / France / West Germany |
| Languages | Bambara, Fula |
Yeelen (Bambara for "brightness"/"light") is a 1987 Malian film directed by Souleymane Cissé. It is filmed in the Bambara and Fula languages, and is based on a legend told by the Bambara people. Though the era is undefined, it is presumably set in the 13th century in the Mali Empire and is a heroic quest narrative featuring magic and precognition.[1]
Cissé has stated in an interview for Cahiers du Cinéma that it was "in part made in opposition to European ethnographic films” and that he “wanted to make a response to an external perception, a perception by white technicians and academics, an alien perception."[2]
It stars Issiaka Kane as Nianankoro, a young African man who possesses magical powers. Niamanto Sanogo plays Niankoro's father, who is tracking his son through the Bambara, Fulani and Dogon lands of West Africa using a magical wooden post to guide him.[3]