KATANGA, LA DANSE DES SCORPIONS

Dani Kouyaté
Burkina Faso | 2025 | Original version with English subtitles | 113 min
Q+A with the director to follow
(Rerun)

SO 16 NOV
18:00 BROTFABRIKKINO

Set in the imaginary African kingdom of Ganzurgu, KATANGA, LA DANSE DES SCORPIONS is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Shot in black and white and in Mooré, Dani Kouyaté presents the timeless, universal story of power and political intrigue in a fresh form.
After a failed coup against the crown, King Pazouknaam appoints his cousin Katanga as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Driven by a prophecy from a seer and his ambitious wife, Katanga murders the king and seizes power. From that moment on, he will stop at nothing to maintain his rule…
Although a faithful adaptation of Macbeth, Kouyaté’s film offers a completely new interpretation of the classic story, treating it as a fairy tale with contemporary relevance in a distinctly African context and radically changing the ending.

KATANGA, LA DANSE DES SCORPIONS was awarded the Yennenga Golden Stallion, the top prize at FESPACO 2025, making it the first Burkinabe entry to receive the award in 28 years.

DANI KOUYATÉ, born 1961 in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, began his film career in 1989 with the short film BILAKORO. In 1992, he founded the production company Sahelis Productions. His first feature film, KEÏTA! L’HÉRITAGE DU GRIOT (1995), won Best First Feature at FESPACO and the Junior Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Dani Kouyaté teaches Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology at Uppsala University and Film and Theater at Wiks Folkhögskola in Uppsala.