" Mani Kongo's peregrinations take on a symbolic aspect, representing the questioning of the place of the African traditions in the modern world. At the end of the film, the king, who loses his regalia to a European antique dealer, finds them again thanks to his daughter. In reality, a woman should never have touched these objects. The king's voyage consequently becomes an initiatory journey: he realizes that the times have changed, as it is thanks to his daughter and due to the fact that a taboo has been transgressed that he is able to return home with his head held high. His daughter comes back to tell him that she has failed her medical exams. He answers that the healer can complete her training, that one must not try to skip stages, and that the council of elders needs to be convened to discuss the matter. It is thus symbolic of the role and the place of our past, and of what we want to become in the future.

Europe has always considered African cultural and spiritual values simply as ridiculous superstitions or banal folklore. The cultural exchange would have been more successful if the Europeans had seen more in it than just selling antiques. Europe refuses to see Africa as a continent with its own dignity, depth, even in its so-called poverty. It is this incapacity that I wanted to evoke.

The king never becomes ridiculous because he remains himself: it's the people around him who are ridiculous, who are uncultivated. He is simply anachronistic, but this is due to his function. Finally, in this district of Brussels, he finds his soul and a humane dimension.

His daughter is a strong character, and knows how to say no when needs be. The younger African generations can identify with her: they recognize themselves in her problems, and see that there is a way to tackle them.

Several people have made what I consider to be the superficial comment, "you aren't defending anything". What the Africans of the diaspora really want is that we consider them with dignity, with tenderness, that we show them a certain consideration. In my opinion, the best way to get tenderness is to show it. I think that I do defend a lot - not with slogans, but through the experiences of the characters.

The end is a lesson, a choice, even though things rarely happens like that in real life. It is important to give a message of hope at the end which suggests that anything is possible. That's the spirit I make films in! "

Were you surprised that you won the Etalon de Yennenga?

" In all honesty, the Etalon was a surprise! Even though it's a comedy, the film portrays profound and essential contemporary African realities. Up until now, there has been a certain idea about what constitutes an African film: Pièces d'identité does not totally correspond to that model. Perhaps the jury also wanted to give African cinema a new direction, or in any case to widen its scope. For a Fespaco dedicated to distribution, I think it is a good sign that a distributable film won the main prize. Two days later, I signed a contract with the Sonacib, the Burkinabè distribution company, and the film made 2.5 million FCFA in two days, whilst the usual average is between 800 000 and 1 million. Burkina Faso is exemplary: I was given a register with the exact number of spectators, whether the tickets sold were orchestra or balcony seats, how much goes to the producer, to the Sonacib, etc! The whole lot is computerized... It's exactly what we have been dreaming of. We cannot claim that the lack of distribution of African films in Africa is only due to the genre, or technical and artistic quality of these films.

People always forget that Africa's urban populations dream of going, or have already been to Europe. The decision to show the Europeans as ordinary humans (poor, rich, as simple people), rather than as all-powerful, interested them.