Buud Yam is a 1997 Burkinabé

Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.Its size is with an estimated...

 historical drama film

Drama film

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 written and directed by Gaston Kaboré

Gaston Kaboré

Gaston Kaboré is a Burkinabé film director and an important figure in Burkina Faso's film industry. He has won awards for his films Wend Kuuni and Buud Yam.-Biography:Kaboré was born in 1951 in Bobo-Dioulasso in Upper Volta....

. As of 2001, it was the most popular Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

n film ever in Burkina Faso.

Plot

The film draws on the African oral tradition. Set in a nineteenth century village, it follows a group of characters from Kaboré's debut film Wend Kuuni

Wend Kuuni

Wend Kuuni is a 1983 Burkinabé drama film directed by Gaston Kaboré.-Plot:The movie starts out with a village leader coming into the house of a crying mother. He says to give up hope that your husband is still alive...

. Wend Kuuni (Serge Yanogo) is a young man who is suspected of being responsible, through the use of sorcery

Magic (paranormal)

Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...

, for his adopted sister's ill health. To help his sister, and clear his name, he tries to find a healer who uses the legendary "lion's herbs". He also searches for his own roots.

Distribution and awards

In 1997, Buud Yam was shown at the Cannes Film Festival

Cannes Film Festival

The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...

 during Directors Fortnight and had its North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

n premiere

Premiere

A premiere is generally "a first performance". This can refer to plays, films, television programs, operas, symphonies, ballets and so on. Premieres for theatrical, musical and other cultural presentations can become extravagant affairs, attracting large numbers of socialites and much media...

 at the Toronto Film Festival. It won the Etalon de Yennega (the Grand Prize) at the 15th Ouagadougou Panafrican Film and Television Festival.

Cast

• Colette Kaboré as Lalle
• Amssatou Maïga as Pughneere
• Sévérine Oueddouda as Komkeita
• Boureima Ouedraogo as Razugu
• Augustine Yameogo as Aunt
• Serge Yanogo as Wend Kuuni