Wani
Kerth Agouinti and Nicolas Pradal
Guyana, France - 2022 - 52 min
synopsis
In addition to being a plumber at the Maripasoula town hall, Wani holds precious knowledge: that of the drum that frees grieving spirits. But since his father, the customary chief of the community, died, Wani feels an existential void. His perdition leads him to question the meaning of his existence. Despite everything, when a villager dies, he engages in the steps of the Puu Baaka ceremony to free the spirit of the deceased and the grieving family. Wani tries to lead the event, but his mind is elsewhere…
Directors
Kerth Ziggy Agouinti is 28 years old and lives in Maripasoula in French Guiana. He has always been passionate about photos and videos, but it was in 2015 that he entered the audiovisual and cinema world by joining a pre-qualifying training course and subsequently various training courses (JRI, portrait production, etc.). Wani is his first documentary film co-directed with Nicolas Pradal, whom he met during the recording of a mourning ceremony in Papaïchton. He wants to continue the path of directing, in particular to talk more about his culture and his very rich and complex Aluku traditions that tend to be lost little by little over the years.
After studying Sociology and Anthropology, Nicolas Pradal joined ENSAV. His graduation film Les rêves et la Loi depicts the difficult situation of the Aboriginal people of Australia. This trip would fossilize questions that he would continue to explore in his future writings. In 2009, he began a documentary in French Guiana on the Amerindian territory. The sensitive context made him aware of the need to construct a collaborative film. A strong ten-year experience in the territory led him to produce several works and to meet the Bushinenge community, which led him to produce the documentary Wani with his co-director Kerth Agouinti.
PLUG
PRODUCTION
YN Productions – Cooking with images
5° North productions
DIFFUSION
Martinique 1st – Channel dude
PARTICIPATION
CNC, PROCIREP
Rewards
- 2022 • General States of Documentary Film – Lussas (France) – Docmonde Selection
- 2022 • FIFAC – Amazon Caribbean International Documentary Film Festival – Audience Award