Mami Wata: The Spirit of the White Woman (1988) dir. Tobias Wendl & Daniela Weise

Pictures, songs and stories - scarcely a country on the West African coast where one does not encounter Mami Wata. Everywhere she is bith worshipped and feared. She appears as a snake charmer, as a seductive mermaid or as a holy virgin of the sea. And yet it is always the same ambivalent figure of the foreign white woman hiding herself behind these many masks. The documentary was shot in 1986 in Togo during a 12 months research, supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). It combines interviews with sequences of rituals (such as initiation, divination and possession). Mami Wata priests and novices in order of their appearance: Aladja Adjoko, Kanyi, Kayi Mathé, Inno Sotodji, Ramatou Ayivon, Marceline Agbogbli, Midao Dazihode Gomez. Assistant: Fola Latevi Lawson.