Fifteen years ago Gaston Kaboré introduced the title character of his immensely popular film Wend Kuuni, a boy orphaned when his mother, branded a witch by their village, is stoned to death. In Buud Yam, a grown up and strikingly handsome Wend Kuuni is still something of an outcast among his people. He is treated with wariness and distrust, and blamed when his foster sister Pughneere is stricken by a malady that proves resistant to local medicines. Wend Kuuni embarks on a desperate quest to find a healer rumored to have a miracle potion. His arduous and dangerous journey leads him across the African wilderness from the stark desert to the dense bush. With a keen sense of beauty and a deep affection for his characters, Kaboré once again draws upon African folk tale traditions to spin a fable of self-discovery and tolerance.-Joanne Parsont