The Revolution Eats its Children

In 2014, the award-winning theater director Julia travels to Burkina Faso with her acting ensemble to stage Danton's Death. Once there, she discards the concept imported from Europe. Puppet maker Michael Pietsch makes a puppet of the president and independence fighter Thomas Sankara, who was assassinated in 1987. His alleged murderer is Blaise Compaoré, who has ruled the country autocratically for 27 years. When protests break out on the streets of Ouagadougou, fiction becomes reality. "With their mockumentary, the team around theater director Jan-Christoph Gockel has created a fictional-documentary oddity that casually interweaves puppet and stage play as well as life in Graz, Europe and Burkina Faso. A madcap, megalomaniac, brilliant multimedia labyrinth." (Diagonale)

Keywords

  • Austrian Films
  • Exclusive Docs: New Perspectives
  • Sooner Exclusives
  • Topic: Facts & Alternatives
  • Africa
  • ensemble film
  • mockumentary
  • resistance
  • sixpackfilm
  • theater

Actors

  • Julia Gräfner
  • Florian Köhler
  • Laurenz Leky
  • Mizrajim Komi Togbonou

Director

  • Jan-Christoph Gockel

Documentary, Music, Dance, Theater


1h 14min


16+

DE


EN

DE

Austria
Burkina Faso
2020
A European theater director wants to stage a play about revolution in Burkina Faso and gets caught up in a real revolution.

A European theater director wants to stage a play about revolution in Burkina Faso and gets caught up in a real revolution.


In 2014, the award-winning theater director Julia travels to Burkina Faso with her acting ensemble to stage Danton's Death. Once there, she discards the concept imported from Europe.


Puppet maker Michael Pietsch makes a puppet of the president and independence fighter Thomas Sankara, who was assassinated in 1987. His alleged murderer is Blaise Compaoré, who has ruled the country autocratically for 27 years. When protests break out on the streets of Ouagadougou, fiction becomes reality.


"With their mockumentary, the team around theater director Jan-Christoph Gockel has created a fictional-documentary oddity that casually interweaves puppet and stage play as well as life in Graz, Europe and Burkina Faso. A madcap, megalomaniac, brilliant multimedia labyrinth." (Diagonale)

Festivals

Cast & Crew