1975
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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 ...
Dec 2, 1987 · Yeelen is a 1987 film set in the 13th century Mali Empire, where a young man with magical powers seeks to overthrow his sorcerer father. The film blends Bambara folklore, African mythology and political allegory in a visually stunning and culturally authentic way.
May 11, 2020 · The Malian director Souleymane Cissé’s historical drama, from 1987, is a masterwork of metaphysical realism. It’s based on a thirteenth-century legend about a sorcerer, Nianankoro, whose ...
A film by Souleymane Cissé - 1987, Mali/Burkina Faso/France/ West Germany, 1h44m | 35mm | Bambara with English subtitles, staring Issiaka Kane (Nianankoro);….
Brightness (Yeelen) is a 2003 Malian film directed by Souleymane Cissé. It follows the adventures of Niankoro, a young shaman who escapes his father's wrath and helps a king fight his enemies.
Celebrated Malian filmmaker Souleyman Cissé crafted Yeelen (which means ‘brightness’) as an explicit antidote to the “ethnographic” lens through which Western directors often told Africa-set stories.
In this epic drama drawing on Bambara culture, which echoes mythic legends in an invented tale, a hero undergoes ordeals that allow him to renovate a decaying society. A young man must penetrate the secrets of the Komo cult (a real caste of specialist knowledge among the Bambara), whose members have abused their spiritual powers.
