Kirikou and the Sorceress

Plot

In a little village somewhere in West Africa, a boy named Kirikou is born in a spectacular way. But he's not a normal boy, since he can speak and walk immediately after being born. He is also very determined. His mother tells him that an evil sorceress has dried up their spring and devoured all the males of the village except for one. Hence the tiny Kirikou decides to accompany the last warrior, his uncle, to visit the sorceress. Kirikou tricks the sorceress and saves his uncle, by waiting inside his uncle's hat, and pretending that it was magic. He saved the children from being kidnapped by the sorceress' boat, which sped off towards Karaba, and saved them later again from the sorceress' tree, which closed it branches around the children, and once again sped off towards Karaba. Next, he bursts the monster who was drinking all the village's water. He then travels to ask his wise old grandfather about the sorceress, and faces many obstacles in the process. The grandfather finds that Kirikou is always asking questions, which is a good thing. The grandfather tells him that she is evil because she suffers: bad men put a poisoned thorn in her back. On the way to Karaba, Kirikou makes friends, who each in turn, give him presents, after he saves them from the skunk. Kirikou manages to trick the sorceress and removes the thorn, he also manages to take the gold, and return it to the rightful owners. The sorceress is cured. She kisses Kirikou and he becomes an adult. Love reigns. When they arrive back at the village, no one believes that the sorceress is cured, and only do they believe Kirikou when a procession of drummers arrive. It turns out Karaba did not eat the men, just turned them into watchmen, and other obedient objects.

Production

The film is a co-production of Les Armateurs, Trans Europe Film, Studio O, France 3 cinéma, RTBF and Exposure in France, Odec Kid Cartoons in Belgium and Monipoly in Luxembourg. It was animated at Rija Films' animation studio in Latvia and Studio Exist in Hungary, with backgrounds painted at Les Armateurs and Paul Thiltges' animation studio, Tiramisu, in Luxembourg, digital ink and paint and compositing by Les Armateurs and Odec Kid Cartoons in Belgium and voices and music recorded in Senegal.

The original French voice acting was performed by a cast of West African actors and schoolchildren and recorded in Dakar. The English dubbing, also directed by Ocelot, was made in South Africa. A dub of the film in the Swahili language was produced in Tanzania in 2009 through the help of the Danish Film Institute (DFI) and John Riber of Media for Development in Dar es Salaam.

French voice cast

English voice cast

Swahili voice cast

Japanese voice cast

Nudity

The film contains several instances of female nudity, and male nudity to a lesser extent, as would be the norm due to the body not being as sexualised as it is in western culture. This was controversial enough in the US to delay the film's release there until 2002.

Release

The film has been licensed by distributors in numerous countries, including: