Kirikou and the Sorceress

"Can Kirikou save his village from a terrible curse?"

1998 1h 11m FR

👍

7.4

SOLID

★7.4TMDB · 1,193

FantasyAdventureAnimationFamily

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Drawn from elements of West African folk tales, it depicts how a newborn boy, Kirikou, saves his village from the evil witch Karaba.

“Can Kirikou save his village from a terrible curse?”

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Cast

Doudou Gueye Thiaw
Kirikou enfant (voice)
Maimouna N'Diaye
La Mère (voice)
Awa Sène Sarr
Karaba (voice)
Robert Liensol
Le Sage dans la montagne (voice)
William Nadylam
Kirikou jeune homme (voice)
Sebastien Hebrant
Kirikou jeune homme (voice)
Thilombo Lubambu
L'Oncle (voice)
Rémi Bichet
Kirikou adulte

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Michel Ocelot
Writers: Michel Ocelot, Michel Ocelot
Languages: French
Countries: France, Belgium, Luxembourg

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Tight 71-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $4.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

28 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 3 countries: France, Belgium, Luxembourg.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "The Kirikou Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Youssou N'Dour. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Dominique Lefever shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Doudou Gueye Thiaw and Maimouna N'Diaye and Awa Sène Sarr carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Michel Ocelot directs. Youssou N'Dour scores. Dominique Lefever cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in France, Belgium, Luxembourg. Dialogue in French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Tight 71-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
2Shot for just $4.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
328 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4International production across 3 countries: France, Belgium, Luxembourg.
5Part of the "The Kirikou Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
6Original score by Youssou N'Dour. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Dominique Lefever shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Doudou Gueye Thiaw and Maimouna N'Diaye and Awa Sène Sarr carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Can Kirikou save his village from a terrible curse?".
10IMDB entry: tt0181627 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 8 themes, including "folk", "power of goodness", "folktale", "bad witch".
12Released under 13 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Original score: Youssou N'Dour
Editing: Dominique Lefever
Production design: Thierry Million
Runtime: 71 min · 1h 11m
Status: Released
Budget: $4,495,000
Original language: FR
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Kirikou and the Sorceress (1998)

Awards

CICFF Children's Jury Award for Best Animated Short Film
Annecy Cristal for a Feature Film

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Part of

The Kirikou Collection

Kirikou is a little boy from a West African village. He wants to know why the evil fairy Karaba is hitting his village with a terrible curse.

Also by

Michel Ocelot

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2023-08-28
★ 7/10
This is a really joyous animation to watch. A pregnant lady gives birth to a determined young infant who can immediately walk, talk and who names himself "Kirikou". Enthusiastic, questioning, innocent - he discovers that his village well has been stopped up by the evil sorceress "Karaba" and so decides to rectify the situation. His adventures are fun, simple - as is the animation - with plenty of humour from the dialogue, just the tiniest degree of menace and some interesting characterisations for our young man to engage with along the way. The film looks a little at the superstitions that guide this small West African community, but also at their people's synergies with nature - the whole collaborative way in which humans and other animals co-exist (or not). The themes are relayed cleverly using the naivety of a child's eyes - and that's frequently poignant, comical, amusing - and surprisingly practical. The young boy engages with the animal kingdom in a plausible way too - they don't speak, indeed frequently the collection of squirrels, wart-hogs and snakes react naturally when they encounter him - scoring away or taking him on. "Kirikou" is a can-do child! Sure, if he was your's you might have wanted to throttle him at birth - he is a tad precocious, but if this film doesn't make you smile and feel better, then I don't know what will....

Production companies