A film by Lavinia Currier Based on the memoir by Louis ... - FDb.cz

SHORT SYNOPSIS
25 years ago, ethnomusicologist Louis Sarno traveled from New Jersey to the forests of Central
Africa to record the music of the Bayaka Pygmies. Falling in love with a Bayaka girl and her forest
lifestyle, he decided to stay. “OKA!” tells the adventure of his life in Africa with his adopted family.
The Bayaka pygmies maintain a tenuous balance between their traditional forest existence and their
increasing dependence on the Bantu villagers. Through the eyes of Larry, the tall, ungainly white man from
New Jersey, who in spite of his failing liver accompanies the Bayaka on a journey into the heart of the
forest, “OKA!” offers a unique glimpse into the music, humor, and spirit of the Bayaka people.
“OKA!” is directed <strong>by</strong> <strong>Lavinia</strong> <strong>Currier</strong> and <strong>film</strong>ed in Sango, Akka, French, and English. It is based
on Louis Sarno’s memoir, Last Thoughts Before Vanishing from the Face of the Earth, and stars Kris
Marshall, with Isaach de Bankolé and Will Yun Lee, and a magnificent local Bayaka ensemble cast.
SYNOPSIS
Ethnomusicologist Larry Whitman (KRIS MARSHALL) is from New Jersey, but his heart is with
the Bayaka people of Yandombe, in the Central African Republic (CAR). Back in the United States on a
fundraising trip for his village, his doctor (PETER RIEGERT) warns him that his failing liver will not
withstand the dangers of life in the African forest. Undaunted, Larry is drawn back to his adopted people.
This is his last chance to record the sound of the mysterious molimo, an instrument associated in the past
with the elephant hunt, now thought to be extinct. But Larry knows that there is something more than
music waiting for him.
Even <strong>by</strong> African standards, the Central African forest and the Bayaka who inhabit it are considered
remote and exotic. But times have changed since Larry’s previous visit. The powerful local Bantu Mayor
Bassoun (ISAACH DE BANKOLE) has welcomed a timber corporation to exploit the African rainforest for
timber and exotic game. Bassoun calls the Bayaka his “little brothers,” but he’s also moved them from the
interior of the rainforest to a small village on the outskirts, forbidding them to enter their sacred traditional
land. This hasn’t stopped tribal shaman Sataka (MAPUMBA) and his wife Ekadi (ESSANJE) from hunting
and gathering – in fact, it was Sataka’s prayer that “called” Larry from America to return to the Bayaka. As
Larry is welcomed <strong>by</strong> the Bayaka, who are eager to receive gifts from the outside world, he sees that they
are increasingly marginalized and dependent on their Bantu bosses. Meanwhile, Bassoun welcomes
Chinese businessman Mr. Yi (WILL YUN LEE), who is interested in tapping into the vast resources in the
Bayaka’s protected wilderness. Doing so will require that Bassoun prove the Bayaka are poachers: if he
can gather evidence of them shooting elephants (forbidden <strong>by</strong> law), then perhaps the Bayaka could be
disempowered even further, leaving the forest wide open for cutting.