Bakary premieres his debut animated film “The Journey of Souba”

artFilm/theater

May 24

Written By

The talented filmmaker has something to say

With verbal storytelling being such a time honored tradition throughout Africa, it makes sense that “The Journey of Souba” kicks off with a story around an open fire. In his debut film, Bakary Diarrassouba pulls from his own life experiences to deliver an animated short to remember. In the city of of Abidjan, “The Journey of Souba” focuses on Bakary’s beloved grandfather, a master storyteller. The film details how his grandfather’s sudden illness stripped him of his ability to orate, prompting Bakary to find his own storytelling voice. This spark has since became a flame, as his platform Besouba.com, is rooted in the kind of vulnerable stories that Bakary has became known for. With the help of gorgeous animation by Stephen Elugbemi, Bakary shows major promise as filmmaker, and we have a feeling he has a lot more stories to tell. We asked him more about his journey, his life, and his film below. But first, check out his film here:https://vimeo.com/420889030

1. First off, the film is absolutely beautiful. Can you talk about the creative process behind it? Why was that particular story so important for you to tell?

Thank you, that means a lot to me. I definitely spent time with myself to revisit that time in my life as a young boy and tried my best to tap into how I really felt during those times. The creative process for me always is about challenging myself to be authentic and vulnerable as I can with where I am to allow space for people to connect with whatever I'm sharing ... whether that's through photography, Djing, or Storytelling. This story was important for me to tell because it was a defining moment for me in many ways that I did not know at the time. It's now that I am older and trying to piece together what makes me happy and what careers I want to pursue that's forcing me to really figure out what truly brings me joy and happiness. Storytelling brings me true joy and fulfillment and it's important for me to shed light on why and how it became to be that way. I think it allows for consumers of my art to be able to understand me and my views.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CABl2cYpNFn/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

2. How have you built on that need to tell stories since that initial spark from your grandpa? Your platform for example. Can you speak on Besouba and the vision behind it?

My path as storyteller has been a journey honestly, growing up I've found multiple paths that allow me to tell stories. It started with Photography, I think the picture spells thousands of words. I moved into Djing, as a Dj my goal was to always take people on a journey through different eras and different messages throughout the event. Now it's www.beSouba.com, Souba is about making space for people to share openly and vulnerably for the sole purpose of inspiring others for personal growth. We're all on our own journey in this life and we experience it and see it from different angles. The vision behind Souba is to highlight that if we are open and share our personal development stories from the angles in which we see the world, we can help each other grow and gain understanding in our respective journeys.

"This story was important for me to tell because it was a defining moment for me in many ways that I did not know at the time"

3. The animation is on point in this film. How did you link with Stephen Elugbemi and express the vision that you had so clearly?

Haha, yea Stephen is my brother. A really talented creative that's dedicated to his craft. Me and Stephen connected when I used to work for General Motors a few years back and we've been cool since. I think we collaborated well on this project because he understands me as a person and did not try to invent his vision of what he thought the story was about. We sat down to really go over my vision and through multiple back and forth with creative direction we got it right.

4. What are your plans with the film? I’ve been to a lot of festivals, and watched a lot of animated films and I think yours is an award winner. Do you plan to make a push with it?

Thank you man, that means much to me than you realize. This is my first film, so I'm not really hip and aware of festivals that's out there but definitely plan on connecting with people like yourself to understand the space. After I get some more information, we'll do our best to make the rounds. I will be submitting the film for the Harlem film festival coming up in September, and that's huge for me as a Harlem guy so (isA.) We'll see how it plays out.

"My unique upbringing has allowed me to be exposed to a lot of things and there's a lot of topics that I want to start conversations around."

5. You mention at the end of the film that “You hope to one day bring these stories to life” can you expand on that a bit? Creatively, what are you hoping to do down the line?

Yea, down the line definitely plan on releasing a few more Animated shorts like "The Journey of Souba '' and then the goal is to shift towards big screen films and shows. My unique upbringing has allowed me to be exposed to a lot of things and there's a lot of topics that I want to start conversations around. The film foreshadows this a bit at the end, a few things are growing up in a west african muslim household, access to education, and the african/black bourgeoisie folks that likes to look down on others. I want to paint these things in films to bring conversation and action for change around it.

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