"Some secrets can never be shared, like what your husband learned in the
Sacred Forest. You can read books, make assumptions, and try to imagine
things, but you can never get confirmation. Asking too many questions is
considered impolite. Some things are simply 'nini.' That means forbidden
in Jola."
In RETURN TO BELAYE: A RITE OF PASSAGE, filmmaker Amy Flannery describes
her husband's return to his African village where he is initiated into
manhood. Now a resident of Washington, D.C., Papis Goudiaby went back to
Senegal in the summer of 1999. He spent two weeks in the Sacred Forest
with his peers to learn the secrets of the Jola tribe and the
responsibilities of manhood.
A week of intense celebration leads up to the initiates' entrance into the
Sacred Forest. Harkening back to ancient warrior traditions, the men
demonstrate bravery and invulnerability by slashing their bodies with
knives and firing homemade cannons. Dressed in colorful costumes, the
villagers dance and sing.
"Fascinating...Flannery captured part of what makes their union of
races and cultures special."
- Nicole Miller, The Washington Post
"Incredibly rich, moving and beautifully filmed."
- Marty Hornstein,
Executive Producer, Along Came a Spider
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