In the capital of Burkina Faso, a band of young people tries to survive and thrive vis-a-vis the thousand and one temptations. Adventures of a band of youngsters, living in a stripped district of Ouagadougou, who seek hopes. The easy way and ingeniousness compensate for the money which often is lacking. Sadness is banished of a resolutely optimistic way of life. Plunders and odd jobs constitute the daily newspaper of this struggle for life. The ones will succeed modestly, the others will fail more or less but a great solidarity of group remains.
After the brutal massacre of his family in Haiti, Francis Desrances resettles in the Ivory Coast. Years later Francis, his wife Aissey and 12-year-old daughter Haila await the birth of a son, who to Francis' excitement and Haila's irritation is immediately regarded as the worthy heir to the Desrances name. As the birth looms, civil war erupts in Abidjan and amidst the melee Aissey goes missing. Haila courageously steps forward in ways that challenge her father's notion of what constitutes a rightful heir. Cementing her status as a bold voice in contemporary filmmaking, Apolline Traoré's domestic drama escalates into an intense thriller that mounts a passionate challenge to commonly-held gender roles, whilst also highlighting the human cost of civil strife.
An old man is entrusted in curing a young girl struck by amnesia. He takes her on a healing trip, eccentric and joyous, to Ouagadougou by way of the Cape, Berlin, Mali, Belgium… In their travels full of surprises, they meet characters both remarkable and luminous, or ignorant, with set ideas, some fabulous creatures, and a text hidden deep in a continent that reveals a well-kept secret: Africa has something to tell us.
