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Watch Online / La danse des Woodabe (2010)
Desc: La danse des Woodabe: Directed by Sandrine Loncke. With Ouba Bi Hassane. In the heart of the Nigerien Sahel, far off the beaten 'asphalt' track, thousands of Fulbe Wodaabe nomads gather every year for a gigantic ceremony named the geerewol. For seven full days and nights, following the solar cycle, two lineages are opposed in a genuine ritual war, with for only weapons song and dance. The stakes of war, the clear challenge: stealing women. The ultimate purpose: to break in peace after having mutually expressed recognition of cultural conformity. As a result of ten years' research and friendship, the film is based on an active listening of the ritual's protagonists who chose to disclose the deep meaning of this tradition to us, conscious as they are that the ecological crisis striking Sahel makes such gatherings less and less likely in the future.