#mambety

[seen @ 7th OLHAR DE CINEMA INT'L FILM FESTIVAL - Retrospective, Curitiba - PR, Brasil]

Debates on youth and and youth's culture are always bubbly, fire-driven and sometimes, even, contraditory. As youth itself is. To dip into the puddle of feelings or to dive deep into the sea of hormones is always a curious experience, because it may lead you into a teen movie on the highest of the clichés (and, marketing bound, get you lots of money! behold). Or you can choose the crazy roller-coaster that compounds youth, as we believe it in modern days (oh yes, the 60's are modern in Jean Rouch's hands). Teenagers are well into music and flirting and dancing, and worried about not failing school, and feeling dammned pressured about their future career. Should they be discussing society and their role in it? Rouch says yes, and plus, he puts his experience in the hands of a class of teenagers to resolve plurality and race. It gets a little boring to see some of them so blatantly obsessed with flirts and sex, when the main subject should be a racial tension amongst two groups. I'm not sure you could shout "racist!" on those kids, as most of them flow almost naturally between groups - by emphasizing "almost", I need to point out that it is super comprehensible to not feel comfortable around a group of people you don't know. Independent on their skin color, it was set from the very start that the groups didn't mingle, and they already existed before we started watching their actions. So it's foolish to watch the Pyramid with a scientific hunger, as you will be surely starving by the end. As a flick of "reflexive kids" it may amuse.

The Human Pyramid (La Pyramide Humaine)

Dir.: Jean Rouch

France/Côte d'Ivoire, 1961

07/10 ---

The short film Contras'city, first one by senegalese director Mambéty, was also exhibited in the same session. I don't feel I have info enough about neither context of location nor Mambéty's filming process, so it's better for me to just leave you there curious to look for this short on the internet! :)

Contras'city

Dir.: Djibril Diop Mambéty

Guauuuuu! Mambéty

2014/02/19

Izaki inkonformista batek filmatutako zinema librea ikusi nahi baduzu aukera bikaina da afrikarrek egindako hirugarren zinema estimatu eta bere identitatea ezagutzeko neokolonialismoaren ikuspuntua alde batera utzita. Touki Bouki, 1973, Djibril Diop Mambéty senegaldarraren filma. 86´-35mm.

Poesia errealetik kontatutako istorioa. Mory eta Anta bikote gazteak, beren herria utzi eta Parisera emigratu nahi dute. Argudio honen atzean Senegalek duela lau hamarkada sufritzen zituen baldintza politiko eta sozialak islatzen dira, gainerako kontinente afrikarrera estrapolagarriak. Bere kameraren samurtasuna, umorea, ironia, baina batez ere bere zinematik datorren egiak azalaren poroak zeharkatzen ditu eta zure bihotzean geratzen da betiko.

“ezin da harrapatu, haizea bezalakoa da,” “haizea bezala, librea da” “haizea bezala, iragaitza da”

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Si quieres ver cine libre rodado por un ser inconformista es una excelente oportunidad para apreciar el tercer cine hecho por africanos y conocer su identidad al margen del neocolonialismo. Touki Bouki, 1973, del senegalés Djibril Diop Mambéty. 86´-35mm.

Historia narrada desde la poesía de lo real. Una pareja de jóvenes Mory y Anta quieren abandonar el país y emigrar a París. Detrás de este argumento las condiciones políticas y sociales que sufría Senegal hace cuatro décadas, extrapolables al resto del continente africano. La ternura de su cámara, el humor, la ironía, pero sobre todo la verdad que emana de su cine atraviesa los poros de la piel y se queda en tu corazón para siempre.

As everyone on my shared netflix account is well-aware, Senegal has a incredible film tradition. My favorite artist currently here at Waaw is a Finnish filmmaker and lover of West African film who, after making her first film in Benin, has come to Senegal to make her second. While here, she has wanted to do public film screenings of great Senegalese films in Wolof for local children.  An official, advertised screening will happen on Saturday at the Talibé Center.  But a completely impromptu screening happened Tuesday night at a local restaurant, owned by a Beninese man who is friends with many Waaw people. We showed Djibril Diop Mambéty's acclaimed 1998 film La Petite Vendeuse de Soleil and, as you can see from the pictures, it was a huge hit.  A crowd of about 25 kids gathered almost immediately, and were soon chanting along with the film's 11-year-old protagonist as she sells newspapers, and mimicking the dance that she and other disabled street children do as a sign of defiance. The difference in engagement and focus kids here have compared with their American peers is incredible.  During the hour-long film, not a single one started  acting bored or drifted off to do something else. 

Of course, we probably could have screened anything and the kids would have congregated: TV just isn't a big part of their daily life the way it is for American children. But it's probably safe to say that this was the first time they ever watched a screen and saw something that looks like their world reflected back. The dusty unpaved roads, the crumbling houses, the trash, the animals, the beggars, the idleness, the hostility of the streets, but also the humor and the joy. It was all there. I had been talking to a curious pre-teen girl at the beginning of the film, going through the usual greeting ritual and exchange of names. During the final credits, I tapped her shoulder and pointed to the screen.  Le directeur, il s'appelle Diop, comme toi. She looked a little surprised. Oui? Il est Senegalais? I told her that there are lots of great films by Senegalese, watched all over the world, including the US. She grinned and excitedly relayed this information to the group of kids next to her. So, who knows? Maybe she grows up to be the next Safi Faye.  

Touki-Bouki, directed by Mambety is great and awesome!  I wish i could've went to Cannes Film Festival to see this..that would have been a day:))

Can we all take a moment to appreciate Djibril Diop Mambéty and his films! He is one of my favorite African director's and he is so visionary. He has even influenced many western movies with "flamboyant, romantic nihilism" (Scott 6).  I love Touki-Bouki and Hyenas and you all should watch them!

Also, he didn't succumb to the Western ways of making films...he did not want to be like everyone else, and he put his own spin on his films and introduced things such as the "politics of autonomy and cultural self-determination" (1).