A Somali film exploring what people will do for love has won the grand prize at the prestigious Pan-African film festival in Burkina Faso.
This is a prestigious film festival cancelled last year because of the pandemic but well attended and many African, pan African film coveting for the prize, the Golden Stallion of Yennenga (from Burkinabe mythology).
"It is a beautiful film that tells a story with humanity," Mauritanian film director Abderrahmane Sissako is quoted as saying.
I pause for a moment, when did I first hear of Abderrahmane Sissako?
Was it February 2016? The only Biennale in India held in Cochin was in full swing and my good friend Biju Thomas invited me to a movie called Timbuktu
It was a memorable movie, snippets of which still floats around in my brain. Like many of the talented from the developing countries, Sissako is a Mauritanian-French.
This rare somali language film was directed by Khadar Ayderus Ahmed, who is Somali-Finnish. The lead Omar Abdi may be a Somali-Norwegian and Yasmin Warsame is Somali-Canadian.
The world is full of talent, just look at the talent shows now airing all around the world. Our planet is full of talent.
As a child I was fascinated by the name Mogadishu (like Timbuktu, Bandar Abbas) bringing into a child's imagination the exoticism not available in Melbourne, Australia.
The Gravedigger's wife is the official entry from Somalia for Oscars. Good Luck.
In The Gravedigger’s Wife, Finnish Somali writer-director Khadar Ayderus Ahmed observes the long, arduous lengths love can reach to. His poetic debut is a study of slowing time to capture the ceremonial element in the act of caring for another, where the smallest moments mark the most radiant demonstrations of reverence. Mesmeric cinematography and an impactful score make for an unforgettable journey into regional landscapes rarely appreciated in the popular cinema of Europe or the Americas, and even rarer viewed on Somali terms. In that way, perhaps what Ahmed offers is more than a love story and rather a visual lesson in story as love.
NATALEAH HUNTER-YOUNG
I wondered who else might have won the prizes at Ouagadougou?
The Silver Stallion went to Haitian director Gessica Geneus for her film Freda. And the Bronze Stallion went to the Tunisian director Leyla Bouzid for Tale of Love and Desire.
Haiti, a country I have visited only twice both at a time of my professional formation, always evoked a sense of otherness, as if they belonged elsewhere. Haitianization is a word I learned in Jamaica.
Gessica Geneus is Haitian but her influence seems to be French more than american. I am sure we will hear more from her, as she was already was being praised for her filmatic genius when she was only 17.
Abderrehmane Sissako
I had the greatest fortune of studying in London and used to be amazed by the diversity of humanity one saw in London
If you are tired of London, you are tired of life, did Samuel Pepys say that ?
Once we know the Other, we recognize the Otherness in ourselves and become tolerant of the differences among the planetary inhabitants. Diversity is the accepted word at the moment. Cultural competence, Multiculturalism were fad words which have disappeared from the popular discourse.
One of the greatest pleasures of being student in London was the regular visits to the Foyle's Book store one of the best book stores in the world and thus be acquainted with post colonial writings from Africa. I had already been introduced to the Caribbean writers by my good friend from Trinidad, Lincoln Myers and thus enjoyed the writings of VS Naipaul to the fullest, along with Guyanese, Bajan and Jamaican (what a vibrancy to that culture) writers.
I unashamedly love the English language and currently some of the best writers in our Language are not from England or America or Canada or Australia but local born English speaking natives of parents from other continents.
I have never liked hyphenated nationalities, but the current situation of people movements across the world has a place for hyphens. Once that becomes an attachment rather than an identification, the deterioration of the individual begins. We are products of so many experiences so to objectify them into geographical origins of your parents is very limiting. An Icelandic born University student whose parents came from Turkish held Kurdistan, has more experiences however young she may be than Kurdistan of her parents.
I dont remember who said this to me, I was still living in Australia at that time or whether i read it somewhere
To be a free human being, you have to free yourself of
Your Family
Your country/Nationality
Your Profession
Your Religion/Culture
Your skin colour/gender
I have managed to free my self (at times with struggle) of all of the above except one: my devotion to my people
This is what happened to me this morning, lovely sunday morning just before taking off to another continent.
Everytime I listen to a song or watch a musical video in French, I think: how come they all sound so enchanting?
Wait for me Pont Neuf, I will be with you soon ..
