Abderrahmane Sissako’s African Worlds film series is co-presented by the UW African Studies Program, Black Cinema Collective, Henry Art Gallery, Northwest Film Forum, and the Simpson Center for the Humanities.
On the eve of the year 2000, Abderrahmane Sissako, a Mauritanian filmmaker living in France, goes home to visit his father in a small village in Mali. As he bikes around Sokolo, Dramane observes the beauty and misery of his village in comparison to the hyper-consumerism and narcissism of Europe at the dawn of a new millennium. He reflects on what it means to return to Mali in an ongoing dialogue with the words of the poet Aimé Césaire. Along the way, Dramane strikes up friendships with Nana, a beautiful young woman, and others whose desires and ambitions are thwarted by Sokolo and its place in the world.
ABOUT SISSAKO
Abderrahmane Sissako, born in Mauritania, raised in Mali, trained in the Soviet Union, France, and elsewhere, is the Oscar- and Palme d’Or-nominated director and writer or co-writer of 4 award-winning feature films:
Life on Earth, 1999;
Waiting for Happiness, 2002;
Bamako, 2006; and
Timbuktu, 2014. He recently staged his first opera,
Le Vol du Boli, with music from Damon Albarn (Gorillaz, Blur). He has also made numerous shorts and served as producer on the films of promising, young West African filmmakers.
