SYNOPSIS

The director, Idrissou Morai Kpai, 33 is a member of the Wassangari tribe of northern Benin. Once a tribe of fierce warriors ruled by rigid traditions, the Wassangari people have maintained their strict patriarchy to this day.
Following the death of his father, the director returns to his village after a ten-year of absence. He is disheartened to see his sisters and nieces suffering from the wassangari’s enduring traditions of female oppression. But he is surprised to find his mother liberated. When Mora Kpai was a child, his mother, a stranger to him, was simply one of his father’s wives, a mere shadow in the family compound…Today, she has received the title, Si-Gueriki, “the queen mother”, the female equivalent of a king.

Si-Gueriki “The queen mother” is the story of a young man’s confrontation with his culture and traditions. It’s an intimate, personal film…an insider’s view of this ancient culture. The film is also the belated meeting between a son and his two “mothers”.