AllMovie

Plenty of film buffs have dreamed of owning their own theater one day, and Nanema Boubakar is man who has worked hard to make that dream a reality. But Boubakar is not a typical cinephile; he lives in Burkina Faso, a nation in West Africa that is off the beaten path of most international film distributors, especially in a neighborhood as poor as the one Boubakar calls home. Undaunted, Boubakar runs the Votre Cine Club, a makeshift video theater where folks from the neighborhood can watch imported films on DVD and VHS, though along with the action fare that brings in the most customers, he also screens rare African films that don't often get engagements in their homeland. The Votre Cine Club doubles as a space for worship during the Muslim call to prayer, and Boubakar's business partner is a friend who makes traditional African drums and uses his percussive skills to attract patrons. Jean-Marie Téno, a filmmaker from Cameroon, profiles Boubakar and his fascination with films that reflect his homeland in many curious ways in the documentary Sacred Places, which was an official selection at the 2009 San Francisco International Film Festival.