Gbanga Tita

Thierry Knauff
Belgium, France | OmU

The Baka pyg­mies live in the rain forest of south­ern Cameroon. Lengé is the sto­ry­teller of his tribe. For seven min­utes, the camera films the old man’s slight­ly sway­ing body and face from a per­spec­tive that seems weight­less and main­tains a respect­ful, involved dis­tance. Lengé knows the sto­ries about the world’s begin­ning, the monot­o­nous songs about Tibala the white ele­phant, the leg­endary turtle, and the bird Fofolo, whom he saw chas­ing sun­beams. With his face and voice, Lengé con­jures up the ancient god of the cal­abash­es, Gbanga Tita. At the end of the film, we are told that Lengé died short­ly after film­ing. He was the last sto­ry­teller in this part of the forest.