ASAFilm movies
Title: A Future of Mud: The Tale of a Mason's Story
Director: Susan Vogel
Producer: co-produced by Trevor Marchand, Samuel Sidibe and Susan Vogel
Writer: Trevor Marchand, Susan Vogel, Harry Kafka, Bilanglama Sissoko,
Samuel Sidibe,
Racine Keita
Cameraperson: Isaac Guba Kpelle and Racine Keita
Location: Djenne, Mali
Running time: 3.5mins (full film is 58')
Date of completion: June 2007
Screening history and prizes or awards: RAI Film festival 2007; Rotterdam Architecture Filmfest; Vancouver Pan-African Filmfest; 'African Perspectives' at TU Delft ; Columbia U.; Brandeis U.; The Fowler Museum; McGill U.; Concordia U.; ACASA Trienniel in Gainesville; African Studies Association Conference, New York; School of Oriental and African Studies. Review in Treehugger e-journal.
Description:
For centuries, Djenné’s architecture has been sculpted and renewed by the town’s masons. Mud bricks and secret incantations combine to make houses, and each year the majestic mosque is dressed with a fine new coating of mud. Konmusa is heir to this masonry tradition and he plans for his son to succeed him in the trade. But classroom education and connections to a globalizing world deliver new opportunities and lifestyles, and continuity is threatened. Grounded in Trevor Marchand’s anthropological research, the film explores the challenges and choices faced by a mason’s family and raises important questions about heritage and changing traditions. In addition to the film’s documentary content, the technique of blending fact and fiction in the service of ‘truth’ raises a number of compelling issues.