DANI KOUYATÉ
BIO
Dani Kouyaté is descended from a family of practicing griots. He is a storyteller, musician, and director of theater and film. He teaches in the Department of Cultural Anthropology at Uppsala University and in the School of Cinema and Theater at Wiks Folkhögskola in Uppsala, Sweden. Katanga – The Dance of the Scorpions is his sixth feature film.
FILMOGRAPHY
Katanga – The Dance of the Scorpions, 2025. Feature film.
While We live, 2026. Feature film.
Soleils (co-directed with Olivier Delahaye), 2013. Feature film.
Ouaga Saga, 2004. Feature film.
Sia, le rêve du python, 2001. Feature film.
Keïta! L’héritage du griot, 1995. Feature film.
Bilakoro, 1989. Short fiction film.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
Katanga – The Dance of the Scorpions is a universal and timeless political fable, adapted from William Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth. The film is about loyalty in friendship, and the fragility of human nature in the face of power. “Scorpions dance in my head and tickle my brain” murmurs Katanga, intoxicated by the omnipotence of his authority.
Katanga – The Dance of the Scorpions is one of the few film adaptations of the famous author William Shakespeare on the African continent. Adapting Shakespeare for Africa seems a natural step. The Shakespearean universe easily meets the spirit of the great African narratives tinged with the supernatural and recurring fusions between the visible and invisible worlds.
The choice of black & white, in addition to its aesthetic strength, lends the film a fabulous character outside time and space.