The Forest

The Forest

93 mins | Drama | Jan. 1, 2003

A film about the difficulty for even the most well-intentioned person to know and respect another culture. In this case, the problem is so acute that there is even heated debate over what to call that 'other.' The subtitles in the film use the familiar word 'pygmies,' a relatively pejorative European term; the Bantu or villagers' expression for the same group, Babingas, carries similar negative connotations. These highly specialized, tropical rainforest hunter-gatherers should perhaps be called by their own ethnonym, Aka, MoAka (sing.) and BaAka (pl.)

The Forest

93 mins | Drama | Jan. 1, 2003

The Forest
A film about the difficulty for even the most well-intentioned person to know and respect another culture. In this case, the problem is so acute that there is even heated debate over what to call that 'other.' The subtitles in the film use the familiar word 'pygmies,' a relatively pejorative European term; the Bantu or villagers' expression for the same group, Babingas, carries similar negative connotations. These highly specialized, tropical rainforest hunter-gatherers should perhaps be called by their own ethnonym, Aka, MoAka (sing.) and BaAka (pl.)
Producers ARTE France Cinéma, Centre National du Cinéma, Les Films Terre Africaine
Original title Le silence de la forêt
Directors Didier Ouénangaré, Bassek Ba Kobhio
Writers Étienne Goyemide, Marcel Bealieu, Didier Ouénangaré, Bassek Ba Kobhio

Cast

Ériq Ebouaney

as Gonaba

Sonia Zembourou

as Kali

Philippe Mory

as The Prefect