Directed By: Jean Rouch
1955 | 36 min
France, Niger

Friday, November 11: 5:00 pm

People Center

Banned by the British colonial government in Niger and decried by African intellectuals upon its release, Les maîtres fous is Jean Rouch's dramatic and disturbing film about the annual trance ceremony of the Hauka, a religious sect that spread throughout West Africa in the early 20th century. Adherents roll their eyes and foam at the mouth, eat a sacrificed dog (in violation of taboo), and burn their bodies with torches as they are possessed by various spirits associated with the Western colonial powers: the governor general, the engineer, the doctor's wife, the wicked major, and the corporal of the guard.

Part of the 35th Anniversary Retrospective

Show in the Retrospective Shorts Program with Jero on Jero: A Balinese Trance Séance Observed and Trance and Dance in Bali