TAIP TOLIAU: TO SENEGAL
TAIP TOLIAU: TO SENEGAL is a four film programme curated together with director Ramata-Toulaye Sy. Among the films is Sy's directorial debut Banel and Adama. Characters of the films Banel and Adama, Touki Bouki and Atlantics desire to change their situation, searching for liberation from restraining conditions. Ocean, invisible powers or traditions prohibit them from moving forward. These are the stories of young people and their hopes. Meanwhile, Mati Diop's film A Thousand Suns reflects life after those hopes and expectations fade in the course of time or one faces overpowering challenges. Combining realistic and magical visual languages, the films reveal different sides of Senegal and allow us to sense the deep experiences of its people.
TOUKI BOUKI
The film is a masterpiece of post-colonial cinematic modernism. Debut Djibril Diop Mambéty film tells a story about two young lovers – Mory and Anta – who are desperate to escape from Senegal’s capital Dakar to a romanticized Paris, where they expect to find freedom. But their plan is confounded by obstacles both practical and mystical. Mambéty tells this story with visionary film language, unconventional editing, bleak humor, and it demonstrates his commitment to telling African stories in new ways. Director said about Touki Bouki that they were making fun of themselves, of the Africans who are so addicted to Europe that they feel like strangers in their own country.
Dir. Djibril Diop Mambéty | Senegal | 1973 | 95 min | Wolof | English, Lithuanian subtitles
Restored in 2008 by The World Cinema Foundation at Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata in association with the family of Djibril Diop Mambéty. Restoration funding provided by Armani, Cartier, Qatar Airways and Qatar Museum Authority.
A THOUSAND SUNS
MILLE SOLEILS
A Thousand Suns was made by Mati Diop, filmmaker Djibil Diop Mambéty’s niece. Just like Touki Bouki, Diop’s film mixes fact and fiction creating a suitable homage to the classic her uncle directed, but above all a sensitive portrait of a man who, in his own words, ‘lost himself’. In a film we follow Magaye Niang who is going to a special screening of Touki bouki. Ultimately, the man stays behind in his homeland, just as Niang did. Forty years later, he is still a livestock farmer and we see him walk the streets of Dakar, no one recognizes him.
Dir. Mati Diop | France | 2013 | 45 min | Wolof | English, Lithuanian subtitles
ATLANTICS
ATLANTIQUES
In her feature debut, Mati Diop continues to harness fantasy and social relevancy in this haunting tale of love. Along the Atlantic coast, a soon-to-be-inaugurated futuristic tower looms over a suburb of Dakar. Ada, 17, is in love with Souleiman, a young construction worker. But she has been promised to another man. One night, Souleiman and his co-workers leave the country by sea, in hope of a better future. Several days later, a fire ruins Ada’s wedding and a mysterious fever starts to spread. Little does Ada know that Souleiman has returned.
Dir. Mati Diop | France, Senegal, Belgium | 2019 | 106 min | Wolof, French | English, Lithuanian subtitles
BANEL AND ADAMA
Desert surrounded village in Senegal. A life steeped in tradition and superstition is suffocating Banel. She is insanely in love with her husband Adama and looking forward to moving away together - like Romeo and Juliette fleeing demands and restraints of their families. Is the drought tormenting the village because Adama refuses to become the chief? Possessed by rebellion and passion, Banel does not care for the world falling apart in front of her eyes. It is a magical and remarkably visual tale of desire to break free and resist prohibiting forces and elements.
Dir. Ramata-Toulaye Sy | France, Mali, Senegal | 2023 | 87 min | Pulaar | English, Lithuanian subtitles
