Fifteen years after making Touki Bouki, Djibril Diop Mambety returned to depict the two things that mattered most to him: cinema and children. In this production, Idrissa Ouédraogo is recorded shooting his second feature, Yaaba. And beyond this sensitive tribute, we are also introduced to a nation, Burkina Faso, which remains the only country in West Africa to have developed a film industry of its own, under the aegis of Thomas Sankara, with indigenous production companies, financial support support for directing and distributing. Thus, Djibril Diop Mambety uses his depiction of Ouédraogo shooting a story about a grandmother and two kids to establish a visual connection between the Africa of his day and the theme of childhood, his other great passion. Mambety has set up a Dakar-based foundation named Yaadikone to support children and encourage nature conservation. The name is a tribute to a ‘Senegalese Robin Hood’ who fought colonialism and injustice of all sorts. The foundation continues to defend children’s rights and organize one-off events designed to promote children and place them in the public eye. To this extent, Parlons grand-mère is more of a cinematic poem than a documentary film. It is truly a manifesto for film-making, for children and for Africa.

Vincent Adatte