The Dancing Forest

La forêt danse

(United Kingdom, 2008, 76 mins)

DigiBeta

North American Premiere

PROD/CAM: Brice Lainé
ED: Pentii Turunen

It seems rare these days to hear good news from Africa, but this documentary about a grassroots community project celebrates one bright beacon of hope. Until recently the village of Baga in northern Togo was anything but that. Plagued with infertile soil, the declining peasant population was barely scratching out a living. CIDAP--the Centre International pour le Development Agro-Pastoral--was created by Seda, a local man schooled in new agricultural techniques. Initially reaching out to widows and divorced women--the most deprived in Nawdba society--he showed them how to increase crop yields, an education that has empowered subsequent generations of “Bakote” women, and which has proved so successful that more than a thousand locals come every year to learn more.

This lyrical, beautifully photographed film mirrors CIDAP’s philosophy by listening first and last to the women and men who have participated in the program. It takes its name from a Nawdba harvest ritual that recognizes the forest as the home of their ancestors, a place of life to be preserved and respected.

Director Brice Lainé, a recent graduate from Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication in England, lived in Togo for seven years as a child: “When I started studying film and video in London, I realized that I had to make a film to tell the world about these people and their fight for survival.” This is his first film.

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