Boubacar Sangaré

Boubacar Sangaré is a filmmaker, author and director, from Burkina Faso. He directed 4 short films and co-directed a feature documentary for TV. A GOLDEN LIFE is his first feature documentary for cinema. He is currently developing several other projects: including the road movie documentary DJÉLIYA, MEMORY OF MANDING (selected for La Fabrique des Cinémas du Monde, in Cannes Film Festival 2022) and two feature-length fiction films: LE NOM QU’ON TE DONNE and LES DIEUX DÉLINQUANTS.

“In 1996, after my CEP exam (primary school certificate), my brother and I went to work on a gold mining site. More than 22 years later, I returned to tell the story of Rasmané, Missa and Dra. Through the story of these three characters, A GOLDEN LIFE paints a portrait of a whole generation of Burkinabe youth, who suddenly go from childhood to adulthood, from carefree living to violence, leaving in their wake golden dreams covered in dust. I filmed Rasmané, alias Bolo, from the age of 16 to 19, as he changes in the environment of the galleries, as well as in the “yaar” where he meets Missa and Dramane, aged 12 and 13. In this universe, destinies are similar and futures seem to follow the same paths. Around the galleries, still shots capture the daily life of this playful and dreamy character. Little by little, the wide opening on the site reveals the similarities that characterize the gold miners in their dreams and work. Just like the nature that surrounds them, innocence and dreams crumble before the unfolding ordeals. The duality between the yaar and the gallery is matched by that of the depths of the gallery and the outside of the site, to translate the effects of capitalism that confront the exploited and the exploiter, as in the sequence where Bolo’s team worries about being chased out by the prospecting “white man’s machine”. The transformation is at work, its effect upon the bodies is felt, Rasmané does not understand why he is already suffering from back pain at his age. Are dreams but a cloud of smoke like the one that rises from the site’s central fire?”