Jean Rouch, an anthropologist filmmaker

Lam decides to set off into the bush in an old van with an assistant, to sell chickens. When a third person joins the group, the organization of the trip begins to look even more precarious.

A symbolic closing ceremony of the Sigui ceremonies, celebrated every sixty years by the Dogons of the Bandiagara cliffs, Mali, was re-enacted in 1974.

The fourth year of the Sigui ceremonies, celebrated every sixty years by the Dogons of the Bandiagara cliffs, Mali, takes place in the village of Amani.

In the village of Firgoun, Niger, a ceremony is held to initiate a Songhai woman to the dance of the possessed.

Circumcision rites of thirty Songhai children from the village of Hombori (Mali). The boys are taken to the bush, prepared for circumcision, circumcised. After the operation they are cared for and, in the evening, they make their first appearance and sing the first song of the circumcised.

A Nigerian traditionalist who draws his inspiration from bird warbling to compose music to accompany his verse chronicles.

Beginning of the sextenary festival of the Sigui among the Dogon of the Bandiagara cliff, in Mali. This first ceremony takes place at the village of Yougo Dogorou. The men, shaved and dressed in ritual clothes of the Sigui, enter the public square dancing the snake dance. They honor the terraces of the famous dead of the last sixty years and go to drink the sacramental millet beer.

Traditional houses and new architecture in Ayorou, an island on the River Niger in the archipelago of Tillaberi. The village and its activities; the building of the house of a newly-wed young man.

The second year of the Sigui ceremonies, celebrated every sixty years by the Dogons of the Bandiagara cliffs, Mali, takes place in the village of Tyogou.

Jean Rouch and his friend Farrokh Gaffary, a filmmaker, visit the Shah Mosque in Isfahan (Iran). Farrokh Gaffary, while guiding Jean Rouch in the mosque, reveals the beauty of the architecture of the mosque and its importance in the city. They discuss the complex relationship of Islam with death, sex and cinema.

In Upper Volta (presently Burkina Faso), the funeral ceremonies for Moro Naba, chief of the Mossis, and ceremonies for electing his successor.

In the village of Simiri, Niger, fisherman Daouda is also a priest of the cult of Dongo, the god of Thunder for the Songhay people. He tells the god's legend by illustrating his account with drawings sketched in the sand at his feet. This version of the film is available in the original version without subtitles.

Dogon funerary rites in the village of Ireli at the foot of the Bandiagara cliffs, Mali.

Twenty-one Sorko fishermen from the islands of Firgoun, Ayorou and Koutougou prepare for a hippopotamus hunt on the Niger river - a big event.

The fifth year of the Sigui ceremonies, celebrated every sixty years by the Dogons of the Bandiagara cliffs, Mali, takes place in the village of Idyeli.

On the Niger River, the island of Ayorou is home to a “singing stone”, an imposing boulder rock covered with cupules. It is used as a percussion instrument by local musicians, who have come in a canoe. After long rehearsals, the artists will play their compositions to their audience accompanied by a guitar.

The third year of the Sigui ceremonies, celebrated every sixty years by the Dogons of the Bandiagara cliffs, Mali, takes place in the village of Bongo.

The Dogon mythology is revealed in the ritual paintings of the Songo canopy in Mali. This sacred place is where circumcision rites are performed, along with the Sigui ceremonies that commemorate the revelation of speech to man. The myth ends here to become History 60 miles up north, in a cave where stand the ruins of a Tellem village, the first to have been occupied by the Dogon migrants. Throughout this movie, French ethnologist Germaine Dieterlen is sharing her knowledge about these two…

In Mali, women's funeral rite takes place in the village of Bongo, in Dogon country.

Every five years, the mask society of the Dogons of Sanga, Mali, organizes a great Dama, a ceremony to end the period of mourning and drive away "the dangerous thing". The Dama shown here is for seven dignitaries, one of whom was called Ambara Dolo.

Burial of the Hogon of Sanga, Dogon religious leader of Lower Ogol, Mali.

Jean Rouch and two journalists from the magazine Jeune Afrique, Brice Ahounou and Mahmoud Maïga pay a visit to the ethnologist Germaine Dieterlen to talk about her life and professional career. She recalls the interwar period, when Paris had become the capital of Jazz. Then, after portraying her professor Marcel Mauss and Georges-Henri Rivière, she talks about Dogon culture in Mali, while coming back with Jean Rouch to the ceremonies of the Sigui that they captured together in a series of…

Lightning has struck the hut of a Fulah herdsman near a village of sedentary fishermen, Ganghel in Niger. A Yenendi, a purification ceremony to obtain "water from heaven but not fire from heaven", is organized.

A group of women is pounding millet to the rhythm of a song, a farmer is hoeing his field in tempo, and a man is dancing to the sound of drums during a ritual of possession. Those are scenes taken from previous films by Jean Rouch. The three sequences illustrates in their own way the importance of song and music in everyday life in Niger, whether in everyday chores, in working the land or during rituals.

Following the death of Pam Sambo Zima, the priest for the ritual of possession in the city of Niamey, a meeting between the initiated and followers is held to symbolically shatter his pots and share out the ritual garments.

The Sigui is a traveling ritual celebrated every sixty years for seven consecutive years in the different groups of Dogon villages on the Bandiagara cliff. It commemorates the revelation of the spoken word to men and the death and funeral of the first ancestor. French ethnologist Marcel Griaule was the first to collect first data on the progress of these celebrations in 1931. - In 1966, the Hogon, a religious leader, announces the time of the Sigui for the following year. - In 1967, in the…

Scene of possession during a ceremony to appeal for rain in Niger.

A Yenendi ceremony near the village of Simiri, Niger. Every year, in the seventh month of the dry season, the Songhais hold this ceremony to pray for rain.

With his colleagues and friends Djamgouno and Pangalé, Jean Rouch films Germaine Dieterlen' s journey as she sets out to meet the places and people that have marked her life as an ethnologist. After a first stop to greet a Malian met many years before at a local festival, Germaine and her friends settle down not far from a cliff she once explored. She depicts and tells the story of a place which, by the very admission of this pioneer of ethnography, is far from having surrendered all its…

A dance of possession takes place in Zima Dauda Sido's concession in Niger. Turu and Bitti, the archaic drums, will be beaten during the ceremony.

The inhabitants of the lower section of Yantala open a new sanctuary dedicated to Dongo, the thunder spirit. Sequence shots describe the possession trance of Zatao, who plants the ritual posts for the new shed, of Serki, of Haouka and of Dongo himself.

Presentation of a play written by Caribbean Julius-Amédée Laou and produced by Daniel Mesguich.

From the bridges of Porto to its estuary, two men are paying tribute to the elegant Douro River. Through Luís de Camões and Prince Henry the Navigator, through its Viking ships and dizzying bridges, the Douro is a great witness of the history and culture of Portugal. Jean Rouch and Manoel de Oliveira are walking alongside while reciting a poem written by de Oliveira himself. During their walk, they are reflecting upon documentary making, the charm of the river and what it represents to them.

Anaï Dolo, Dogon chief of the masks in the village of Bongo, Mali, has died at the age of 120. Six months after his death, a big funeral ceremony is held.

In December 1961, Niger celebrates the first anniversary of its independence. But it is also an occasion to commemorate its status of an independent republic, proclaimed on 18 December 1958. This event also brings the inhabitants of the different regions of Niger to meet and fraternise and also an invitation to representatives of all local ethnic groups to a grand parade celebrating the unity and cultural richness of the country. With ambassadors from countries all around the world attending,…

The Horendi in Niamey lasts for seven days, during which the "horses of the spirits" (trance dancers) are chosen.

At Maputo, in Mozambique, a group of workers employed by a bottle factory sing and dance every morning in the courtyard. Their singings and dancings relate the history of their migration to South Africa.

Cinema portrait of an anthropologist and artist. A famous Japanese sculptor, Taro Okamoto was Marcel Mauss' pupil in paris in the 1930s. He talks about the influence of his teacher on his art, his way of thinking and his way of living.

Tallou lost a camel. He goes to visit Gaoberi, the talking tree with his friends Lam and Damouré and they lie down there. A local legend has it that whoever falls asleep in the shade of a reclining tree will see his dream come true when he wakes up. A portrait of Niger with its legends, mysteries and mystical and religious practices emerges through the dreams, stories and travels of the three men. But this film is above all a tribute Jean Rouch paid to his three inseparable friends and…

The principal secular and sacred rituals of the Sorante magicians in the village of Wanzerbe, Niger.

Damouré Zika who was a long-time collaborator of Jean Rouch had many children. Zomo is one of them and he takes us on a tour of the Niamey zoo where he works. He then introduces us to the Super Gawey Orchestra (originally "Orchestre Super Damouré") that he created with his brothers and sisters. The artists play their repertoire on makeshift drums and stage a dance inspired by their father's most famous film, "Cocorico, monsieur poulet" (Cocka-doodle-doo Mr. Chicken).

Shot during the attainment of independence of Ghana on the 6th March of 1957, this film describes the atmosphere in the capital city of Accra.