"Filmmaker Dani Kouyaté is the son of a griot himself; in KEÏTA he tells a dazzling tale." – Le Monde
"Kouyaté has mastered the art of film-making in the same way his ancestors mastered the art of story-telling...This is the importance of his film: the blossoming of African historical film-making." – Review Noire
Wednesday, February 25, 6:00 p.m. | A traditional griot named Djeliba arrives at a middle-class household in Bamako to tell young Mabo Keïta the epic story of his namesake ancestor, Sundiata Keïta, founder of the Mali Empire. As Djeliba recounts the 13th-century epic—Sundiata's prophesied birth, childhood paralysis, exile, and triumphant return—tensions emerge between oral tradition and Western education. Mabo becomes enthralled, skipping school to hear ancestral stories, causing conflict between his modernist parents and traditionalist griot. Kouyaté interweaves past and present, showing buffalo hunts and palace intrigue alongside contemporary Bamako life. The film interrogates how young Africans navigate between indigenous knowledge systems and colonial education models, asking whether oral history and modern schooling can coexist in postcolonial African identity formation.
*This film has been sourced from educational and archival distributors, reflecting the long-standing material and political constraints that have shaped the preservation and circulation of African cinema; as a result, image quality may fall short of contemporary exhibition standards, a condition that itself speaks to the uneven histories of access, distribution, and valuation that filmmakers such as Ousmane Sembène have long critiqued.
African Cinema: From Independence to Now Lecture Series | January 28–May 17, 2026
This film series explores 65 years of African cinema, from anti-colonial resistance to digital reinvention. Through 14 films from across the continent, African filmmakers reimagine the medium as a tool for decolonization, self-representation, and artistic innovation, connecting the political with the poetic. Presented in collaboration with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Art History, Theory, and Criticism department. Lecturer: Delinda Collier, Professor of Art History. Synopses by Delinda Collier. Select titles offered with encores; encores do not include lecture.
The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu