Dance to the Spirits is a creative documentary project that was shot in Nsola, an Evuzok village in the middle of the south Cameroon jungle. To the Evuzok there are two kinds of diseases that require different treatments: the «natural» ones and the ones from the night world, caused by sorcery. This is the story of Mba Owona Pierre the village chief and the ngengang, the «healer». He handles the sicknesses that come from the night world where spirits live and attack his people. This way Pierre is the anti-sorcerer; he has a special gift and a responsibility towards his fellow villagers.
The dance to the spirits is his most important healing ritual. It is at the same time a performance to overwhelm those who assist but also an authentic catharsis. Pierre travels to the night world so that he can liberate Christine from the curse she suffers from. It goes on for several hours in which the ngengang dresses up with the help of two neophytes, talks and laughs with the participants like a true entertaining host. He sings, dances, enters into a trance and follows all the steps of the healing ritual to treat his patient. In the next day Pierre comes out of his house to his daily routines: the cleaning of his porch, the seating up of the fire for the teapot… With the first light, everything is back to normal.
This film is the portrait of an extraordinary character and a tribute to the Evuzok culture.
French and Spanish subtitles are available only in Full HD download format.
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