Baka (1995) dir. Thierry Knauff

In the equatorial forest of southeast Cameroun live the Baka Pygmies. To name theselves, the Baka chose a word from their language, which means “the gesture of the bird touching the branch.“ When the berries of the branch have been eaten, the bird “sings to the tree“ to thank it. Then it flies away to others trees….. Only Werner Herzog can compare with the dedication of Belgian filmmaker Thierry Knauff, who lived for months among the Pygmies to shoot Baka (1995). The film is an oleographic documentary in black and white 35 mm - it has no comments at all and is only built on images, sounds, hymns, narrations, environment noises, details, looks, silences. Knauff does not offer explanations for the rituals of Baka, admitting that this culture is entirely foreign to him. He concentrates only on filming and that way he expresses something about the beauty of the culture and melody of the language.A Belgian-French co-production, Baka was awarded the Golden Conch at the 4th Mumbai (Bombay) International Film Festival for Documentary, Short & Animation Films in 1996. It was shot over a period of several months in the equatorial rainforests of Cameroun, where mahogany and ebony trees are being exploited for commercial gain. In addition, this hour-long portrait of a primitive people describes in contrasting images the daily rituals and struggle for existence of the Baka Pygmies. Although in one sense an ethnographic film, it contains dramatic and narrative elements that leave no doubt that the Pygmies too may be a vanishing race if conditions continue as they are in the rain-forest.