Tilaï

Credits

Name: Tilaï

Country: Burkina Faso

Year of publication: 1990

Format: 35 mm

Language : OF m. dt. UT

Duration: 81 Minuten

Direction: Ouédraogo, Idrissa

Screenplay: Ouédraogo, Idrissa

Camera: Chénieux, Pierre-Laurent; Monsigny, Jean

Editing: Barnier, Luc

Sound: Arnardi, Vincent; Comte, Alix

Actor: Ouedraogo, Rasmane; Cissé, Ina; Barry, Roukietou

Abstract

Saga returns to his village after a two-year absence. A lot has changed. His fiancée Nogma has become his father`s second wife. Yet Saga and Nogma, still in love with each other, break the law of the community and have an affair. For the village, this is incest and Saga must die. Kougri, his own brother is appointed to kill him, but lets him escape. Saga hides out at an aunt`s and is joined by Nogma.
Set in a pre-colonial African past, Tilai is about an illicit love affair and its consequences. Saga returns to his village after an extended absence to discover that his father has taken Nogma, Saga`s promised bride, for himself. Still in love with each other, the two begin an affair, although it would be considered incestuous. In Burkina Faso, the concept of honour is essential in the structure of traditional societies, and it rules over any notion of family and blood. Ya tilaï, that is the law.
The film delicately portrays the complexities of traditional law and customs in a West African village, though it ultimately speaks to a universal humanity through its unconventional love story. Highly acclaimed Burkinabe director Idrissa Ouedraogo is regarded as one of the best-known African filmmakers internationally and a pioneer of West African cinema. (Africultures)