Wend Kuuni

70 minutes, 1982 , Burkina Faso

Director: Gaston Kaboré

Wend Kuuni

Educational Streaming

Colleges, Universities, Government Agencies, Hospitals and Corporations

Streaming licenses for institutional use—ideal for education, training, and research.

Community Screening

Short-term use for small groups, organizations, or high school classes (under 100 participants-where no admission is charged).

Flexible options for educators, facilitators, and non-commercial screenings.

Home Viewing

48-hour personal streaming rental for in-home use only.

For individuals without institutional access.

Wend Kuuni is a landmark in African filmmakers' attempts to "return to the sources" of their culture, to recover a "usable" African past to solve the problems of the African present. Filmmaker Gaston Kaboré adapts the measured rhythms of traditional African storytelling to create an authentically African cinematic language. He retells an ancient fable about a mute, memoryless orphan, driven from his homeland, who is renamed Wend Kuuni ("God's Gift") by the grateful village which adopts him. Kaboré uses this simple tale to demonstrate that traditional Mossi values can still provide answers to many problems besetting modern Africa, fractured by rural dislocation, refugees and political conflict.
A film of disarming sophistication and poetic irony.
-- Village Voice

"A gentle fable recalling a time of peace and plenty."
-- New York Times

Wend Kuuni trailer image