The Sahel Opera is a challenge: bringing traditional African music into the world of contemporary music. Wasis Diop, artistic director of this opera, filmed whenever necessary to show the paths and means that led to the first African opera. As he went along, he filmed both the musical workshops and the moods of the participants. How can one find one's place in a globalized world with its harsh realities? Interviews and reflections, the making of musical instruments, props, sets, and costumes, rehearsals... These moments make up this documentary about the life of the first African opera, performed at the Théâtre Musical du Châtelet in Paris on October 25, 26, and 27, 2007. ‘Bintou Wéré, les échelles de l'espoir’ is an opera composed by Zé Manel Fortes, a composer from Guinea-Bissau, based on a libretto written by Koulsy Lamko from Chad and Wasis Diop from Senegal.