Cousin, cousine, pirogue gondole (1985)

Inspired by a painting by the Venetian painter of the Renaissance Gentile Bellini (c. 1429 - 23 February 1507), the Nigerian director Mariama Hima, and her cousin Damouré Zika, the bosom friend of the French director Jean Rouch, embark on a mission to find a long-lost artefact in Venice, Italy. As the two cousins meander beneath bridges and long, peaceful watery stretches, exploring Venice's famous canals on a guided gondola ride through the city, they learn the secrets of gondola-making and how the traditional, flat-bottomed rowing boats of the Grand Canal are different from the pirogues of the Niger River. But will they find the fabled ritual axe of the Dongo tribe?