susanne wenger | living with the gods

For 50 years the now 86-year-old Austrian painter and sculptor Susanne Wenger has been living as an "adunni olorisha" (initiated priest) among the Yoruba people in Nigeria in West Africa.
The film tells the story of her work as an artist and adunni olorisha in the Sacred Groves of Oshogbo, the traditional home of the river goddess Oshun.
Together with her ritually adopted children Shangodare and Doyin, she is an important part of the rich traditional cult life in Oshog– bo, which has its annual climax in the festival of the river goddess Oshun and the thunder god Shango.


		Claudia Willke
		Director and Producer
		M.A. in literature and political science (Tübingen) M.A. in film studies (Hamburg) section: documentary
		Willke Film
		founded in 1987 in Hamburg specialises in the development, realization and production of short and full-length creative documentaries focuses on portraits and other documentaries in the field of the arts, music, philosophy and society collaborates with TV-channels, film funds, international co-producers and distributors has production experience in Europe, Africa, Japan and Northern America
		Selection of realized productions:
	1991:	Come Dance with Me
		80 min., 16mm 1st prize for a documentary at the International Dance Screen Frankfurt 1991 Jury Award at the Leipzig Documentary Festival, 1991 Ecumenical Award at the Leipzig Documentary Festival, 1991 Women's Association Award, International Documentary Festival, St. Petersburg, 1993
	1992:	The Conquest of Emptiness
		45 min., 16mm rated "especially worthy" by the German Board of Film Censors shown at several international festivals in Germany, Switzerland, USA
	96/97:	Enjoy Your Symptom
		52 min., Beta SP shown at international festivals in Germany, Slovenia
	1998:	Have You Seen The Moon?
		60 min., 16mm/Video shown at international festivals in Germany, Japan, Italy
	2000:	Nights of Long Shadows
		60 min., Beta SP, 16:9 German-French-Norwegian Co-Production
	2001:	Living with The Gods
		58 min., Digi-Beta, 16:9 German-Austrian Co-Production
	2001:	Nothing Special
		52 min., Beta SP, 16:9


	Script / Director:	Claudia Willke
	Sound Recordist:	Judith Adam
	Camera:	Bernd Meiners
	Narrator:	Christa Lewis
	Montage:	Margot Neubert- Maric
	Sound Mixer:	Roland Musolff
	Prod. Manager:	Peter Stockhaus
		Johannes Rosenberger
	Produced by:	Willke Film
		© 2001


	design:
	Judith Adam
	java script:
	Jutta Wohl
	Kristin Baitis
	html:
	Stephanie Schütt