In 1988, Albert Venzago set out to cross Africa on a Vespa. After miles in the blistering heat, it broke down in a remote village in Benin. There he encountered Mahounon, one of the most influential voodoo priests of West Africa. Abandoning his planned trip, Venzago set out instead on an odyssey through the world of African voodoo, to which he and his camera gained extraordinary access. Venzago followed Mahounon with his camera for nearly ten years, filming secret Voodoo ceremonies and sacrificial rituals. He witnessed Mahounon’s extraordinary search for a successor to lead the cult, and he watched as the anointed eleven-year old boy, Gounon, was schooled in black and white magic, rituals, and the intricate workings of the Fa, or Voodoo oracle. Venzago’s camera evokes the religious ecstasy of these ceremonies as well as their otherworldly atmosphere. His photographs illuminate this mysterious and potent Voodoo culture and religion.
Directed by Alberto Venzago
Your score–
Not scoredImages
Cast
Related
Naqoyqatsi
My Mom Jayne
Seduced and Abandoned
Birth of the Living Dead
Ex Libris: The New York Public Library
As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
Fuck
To Kill a Tiger
Unknown Dimension: The Story of Paranormal Activity
Halloween: 25 Years of Terror
42 Up
I Am Heath Ledger
The Class of ‘92
Come See Me in the Good Light
Trainwreck: The Real Project X
Capital in the Twenty-First Century