Windhoek
A double screening of Abderrahmene Sissako’s master piece, Timbuktu, takes places next Tuesday at 18h30, and Wednesday same time at the Franco-Namibian Cultural Centre (FNCC).
Entrance is N$30 for both screenings. The movie has been directed by Abderrahmane Sissako and is in French and Arabic with English subtitles. It was produced in 2014 in Mauritania and France. Not far from Timbuktu, now ruled by religious fundamentalists, Kidane lives peacefully in the dunes with his wife Satima, his daughter Toya, and Issan, their 12-year-old shepherd. In town, the inhabitants suffer, powerless, from the regime of terror imposed by the Jihadists determined to control their faith. Music, laughter, cigarettes, even soccer have been banned. Women have become shadows but resist with dignity. Every day, the new improvised courts issue tragic and absurd sentences. Kidane and his family seem to be spared the chaos that prevails in Timbuktu. But their destiny changes when Kidane accidentally kills Amadou, the fisherman who slaughtered “GPS,” his beloved cow. He now has to face the new laws of the foreign occupants.
“Timbuktu is an honest, poetic, and brilliant yet harsh description of the invasion of Timbuktu by religious fundamentalists. Sissako though his cinematic poetry shows the effects on the people, who try to carry on with their life under the new rulers. In beautiful film-language, poetically, Sissako shows the power of resistance by and dignity of the inhabitants of Timbuktu and the absurd contradictions but also the humanness of the invaders. Despite the despair, hope in a world of cruelty is possible,” says AfricAvenir’s curator, Hans-Christian Mahnke.
“The film is visually stimulating from beginning to end. Although a tough topic to deal with, one hopes the film would continue endlessly. It feels like one is on a beautiful breathtaking hiking tour in the mountains, exhausted but enjoying the fantastic view. A little stone slips into your shoe, you know it’s there and quite aggravating, but you never stop to take it out. The views, the metaphors, the harsh and cruel story are so breathtaking and keep you moving. Even a year after watching the film only once, my heart and soul are still occupied with this film by of one of cinema’s masters. Namibians must make it a matter of principle to watch this film.”