All Projects

The Siren of Faso Fani

Fall Grant 2013

Michel K. Zongo / Feature Documentary / Burkina Faso, France, Qatar / 2014 / 90 min / Colour / Original Language: French, Moore / Interests: Social Issues

Synopsis

Through the eyes of former workers at the once-famous cotton factory in Burkina Faso, ‘The Siren of Faso Fani’ explores the disastrous consequences of global economic policies that are blind to local realities. The shutdown of the factory in 2001 put hundreds out of work, plunged thousands into poverty and left an entire city reeling: Koudougou, where I was born 40 years ago. A decade after this economic and social disaster, I return to a city that is now a shadow of its former self, and to the silent factory that was so central to my childhood. But most of all I come to see the workers. Stripped of their livelihood and of their pride, they remain convinced that reviving the cotton industry can offer a viable future for the whole community.

Credits

Director

Michel K. Zongo

Screenwriter

Michel K. Zongo, Christophe Cognet

Producer

Christian Lelong, Michel K. Zongo

About the Director

Born in 1974 in Koudougou, Burkina Faso, Michel K. Zongo is a director, cameraman and scriptwriter. After working as cameraman and assistant director on many films with various producers, including Christian Lelong, who has been involved in all his films since 2002, Zongo wrote and directed his first documentary, ‘Sibi, l’âme du violon’; ‘Ti-tiimou s’ followed. In 2010, he and a paretner launched the firm Diam Production, a structure for documentary film production that co-produced, with Cinédoc Films, ‘Espoir-Voyage’, his full-length documentary.

Awards and Festival History

Festivals

Berlinale 2015, Forum (WP)
Durban International Film Festival 2015
IDFA 2015, Best of Fests
Nuremberg International Human Rights Film Festival 2015
African Film Festival of Lausanne 2015
Tubingen International Festival of Francophone Film 2015
Afric

Awards

UEMOA Price LONAB, Fespaco 2015
Best Documentary, International festival of documentary of Innsbruck 2015
Prize Environment and Sustainable Development, Jean Rouch International Film Festival 2015
Special Jury Mention in Political Documentary, AegeanD

Contacts

• Main Contact

  Michel K. Zongo

  Company: 

  Diam Production

  Phone: 

  +226 7880 2778

  Email: 

  kmichelzongo@yahoo.fr

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