Pack your bags and come with me as we cross another country off of my Letterboxd Map! If you’re a fan of stop-motion, wrestling, and frogs, you are in for quite the treat this week. Come with me to Niger where we check out… Kokoa (2001).
Title: Kokoa
Director: Moustapha Alassane
Released: January 1, 2001 (Niger)
Runtime: 13 minutes
Available to stream on: The Criterion Channel
A frog at the announce table informs us that we’ll be seeing five matches today. But before we get to the action, a talented frog named Tounkia will wake up the crowd with their drumming.
Now that the crowd is alive, it is time to get to the fights.
As the rules are explained, they’re also acted out in the middle of the ring so that there are no misunderstandings.
We then see the fights play out with commentary from our frog friend at the announce table.
But who will be crowned the winner of the day?
As someone who tends to enjoy most stop-motion animation, I was excited to check out Kokoa (2001). The fact that I got to cross another country off my Letterboxd map in the process was just an added bonus.
The story itself is pretty light. There are five wrestling matches on the day and in-between the crowd will see some talented drumming in order to keep them lively. That’s it.
What Kokoa may not have in terms of elaborate storytelling, it more than makes up for with animation and commentary.
Admittedly, I am not familiar with any of Moustapha Alassane’s other works. So I am not sure if this animal world is explored in anything prior to Kokoa or if this is just a random day-in-the-life of these creatures.
Either way, it was a fun time. Panning the crowd and seeing the reactions on all of the frogs was great. While some of them seemed thrilled to be there, others seemed like they’d rather be anywhere else. There was even one frog, not too far behind the announcer, who sat there and watched the matches with their legs crossed.
As of this writing, there have only been 529 people that have logged this short film on Letterboxd.
Simply put, Kokoa (2001) is a short film that deserves more eyeballs.
Are you one of the 529 that have logged Kokoa (2001) on Letterboxd?
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