Touki Bouki
| Touki Bouki | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Djibril Diop Mambéty |
| Written by | Djibril Diop Mambéty |
| Starring | Magaye Niang Mareme Niang |
| Cinematography | Pap Samba Sow |
| Edited by | Siro Asteni Emma Mennenti[1] |
| Music by | Josephine Baker Mado Robin Aminata Fall |
Production companies | Cinegrit Studio Kankourama |
| Distributed by | World Cinema Foundation |
Release date |
|
Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | Senegal |
| Language | Wolof |
| Budget | $30,000 |
Touki Bouki (Template:IPA-wo, Wolof for The Journey of the Hyena) is a 1973 Senegalese drama film, directed by Djibril Diop Mambéty.[2] It was shown at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival[2][3] and the 8th Moscow International Film Festival.[4]
The film was restored in 2008 at Cineteca di Bologna / L’Immagine Ritrovata Laboratory by the World Cinema Foundation.[5] It was selected as the 93rd greatest film of all time by the Sight and Sound Critic's Poll[6]
Plot
Mory, a charismatic cowherd who drives a motorcycle mounted with a bull-horned skull, and Anta, a female student, meet in Dakar. Alienated and tired of life in Senegal, they dream of going to Paris and come up with different schemes to raise money for the trip. Mory eventually succeeds in stealing the money, and a large amount of clothing, from the household of a wealthy homosexual while the latter is taking a shower. Anta and Mory can finally buy tickets for the ship to France. But when Anta boards the ship in the Port of Dakar, Mory, poised on the gangplank behind her, is suddenly seized by an inability to leave his roots, and he runs away madly to find his bull-horned motorcycle, only to see that it has been ruined in a crash that nearly killed the rider who had taken it. The ship sails away with Anta but not Mory, who sits next to his hat on the ground, staring disconsolately at his wrecked motorcycle.
Cast
- Aminata Fall as "Aunt Oumy"
- Ousseynou Diop as "Charlie"
- Magaye Niang as "Mory"
- Mareme Niang as "Anta"
Production
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Based on his own story and script, Djibril Diop Mambéty made Touki Bouki with a budget of $30,000 – obtained in part from the Senegalese government. Though influenced by French New Wave, Touki Bouki displays a style all its own. Its camerawork and soundtrack have a frenetic rhythm uncharacteristic of most African films – known for their often deliberately slow-paced, linearly evolving narratives. Through jump cuts, colliding montage, dissonant sonic accompaniment, and the juxtaposition of premodern, pastoral and modern sounds and visual elements, Touki Bouki conveys and grapples with the hybridization of Senegal.[7]
Under colonisation, the filmmakers usually could produce their films and images which were market-friendly and welcomed by the colonisers, whereas actual situations in Africa could not be depicted for audiences. However, Senegal gained its independence in the 1960s, paving the way for filmmakers to produce films and create the Third Cinema, in which they no longer needed to emulate Hollywood films. As an African, director Mambéty tried to show his homeland to his audience by using African actors and actresses as main characters, while revealing the struggle between seeking a good future in Paris or staying in their familiar homeland of Senegal. The story used a new editing method with quite a few items containing symbolic meaning, stimulating the understanding and thinking of plotlines for the audience.
See also
Awards
- International Critics Award at 1973 Cannes Film Festival
- Diploma Award and the Prix FIPRESCI at 1973 Moscow Film Festival[4]
- Touki Bouki ranked #52 in Empire magazine's "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" in 2010.[8]
References
- ^ "Movie Review - Touki-Bouki - Review/Film; A Dream Of Escape To Paris". NYTimes.com. 1991-02-15. Retrieved 2011-01-26.
- ^ a b "Biography of Djibril DIOP MAMBéTY". African Success. 2007-06-25. Retrieved 2011-01-26.
- ^ "Festival de Cannes: Touki Bouki". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2011-01-25.
- ^ a b "8th Moscow International Film Festival (1973)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 2013-01-16. Retrieved 2013-01-04.
- ^ "World Cinema Foundation » TOUKI BOUKI". World Cinema Foundation. Retrieved 2011-01-25.
- ^ "The 100 Greatest Films of All Time | Sight & Sound". British Film Institute. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
- ^ Mambu, Djia. "Touki Bouki: The greatest African film ever?". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
- ^ "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema – 52. Touki Bouki". Empire.
External links
- "The Hyena's Last Laugh - A conversation with Djibril Diop Mambety". California Newsreel. Retrieved 2011-01-25.
- "new wave/old wave". African Film Festival. Retrieved 2011-01-26.
- Touki Bouki at AllMovie
- Touki Bouki at IMDb
- Touki Bouki at Rotten Tomatoes
- Touki Bouki at the TCM Movie Database
- African Film Festival of Cordoba-FCAT (license CC BY-SA-3.0)
- Touki bouki: Mambéty and Modernity an essay by Richard Porton at the Criterion Collection