Mother of the River

Zeinabu irene Davis begins her film with a Yoruba proverb from Nigeria: “Riddles are the horses of discourse.” In this film, Dofimae is a young girl living in slavery who learns about the world through riddles told by her father. She meets and cares for an old shaman who calls herself Mother of the River, and who promises Dofimae to take her and her father up North someday. 

Available for research at UCLA