Film Bridge Russia–Africa: From Screenings of “Suvorovets 1944” to Burkina Faso’s “Dance of the Scorpions”

The colorful film by Burkina Faso director Dani Kouyaté presented viewers with a fantastical interpretation of Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth,” retelling this timeless story of lust for power, political intrigue, and treachery in a new way.

Despite a modest budget, this bold artistic experiment has already attracted the attention of Russian audiences, who noted its successful black-and-white visual style and the true кипение of passions on screen, as well as unusual stage costumes and mesmerizing ritual African dances.

In total, 54 films from 21 countries took part in the “Altyn Minbar” film festival this year, and the special nomination of the Strategic Vision Group “Russia – Islamic World” also drew particular attention. At the same time, there were many times more applications for participation: 1,030 films from 67 countries competed for inclusion in the festival program, including the Togolese Republic, the Sultanate of Brunei, and Venezuela, which submitted applications for the first time.

The festival organizers emphasize that the universal language of cinema, understood without translation, is capable of uniting countries, cultures, and living human stories, becoming a reliable bridge of trust and mutual understanding between peoples.

It is worth noting that the participation of the Burkinabe film in a Russian film festival is not the first film-exchange project between Russia and Africa initiated by the Center for Public Diplomacy. At the beginning of last year, CPD specialists organized the “North–South Film Bridge,” thanks to which screenings of the patriotic and touching Russian film “Suvorovets 1944” were held at the venues of the pan-African film festival FESPACO.

Screenings of the film were also held in Burkina Faso, not only as part of the festival but also at the partner Russian House of the Center for Public Diplomacy, whose work in recent years has helped noticeably intensify humanitarian and cultural cooperation between the two countries. CPD specialists have repeatedly organized visits by artists from Russia to Burkinabe festivals, and Russian art lovers were able to discover unique traditional Burkinabe bronze sculpture, an exhibition of which the Center held in Novosibirsk and Kazan.