Bintou

Hind Benchekroun, Simone Catharina Gaul
Burkina Faso, Germany 2014 | 64 Min. | OF, OmeU

While I was doing research in Oua­gadougou, Burk­i­na Faso, for a film about the rela­tion­ship between Africa and Europe, I became acquaint­ed with the young dress­mak­er Bintou. She spent a lot of time with white expats and dreamed of a career in Europe. The closer I got to Bintou, the more I under­stood about her family back­ground. She has a seven-year-old daugh­ter, Chris­tiane, born from a painful inci­dent in her past. Chris­tiane was raised at a children’s home, so Bintou could com­plete her appren­tice­ship. Bintou some­how man­aged to live her life and bal­ance her work, her dream of a career, and taking care of her child on week­ends – in everybody’s view, she was the sweet, young dress­mak­er, who was always happy, making non-expen­sive, lovely African clothes. I was fas­ci­nat­ed by Bintou and the way she man­aged her life. I wanted to tell others about her story, about the soci­ety in Burk­i­na Faso, and Bintou’s courage in deal­ing with all this. In spite of all the obsta­cles, she con­stant­ly works to achieve her dreams.” (Simone Cathe­ri­na Gaul)