Documentary

Bardi

A fraternity of horse-riders travels across a Central Moroccan landscape of Saints’ shrines and wheat fields, of ancient cities and hidden rural communities, to participate in the ancient equestrian ritual of Tbourida. This is a story of fraternal bonds, of community, belief, and of the transformative powers of performance. Fiction and reality become one: the farmer becomes a general, the young man becomes a brave prince, the metal worker becomes a hero. Bardi is a choral film, sung by different men and boys. It is an ode to a different kind of community, a closed world of transmission and belief, where the forging of the self is played out in a theater of horses and of men.