8 Mar 2006
Director: Ousmane Sembene
Senegal, France, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Morocco, Tunisia
2004
124 min
African cinema’s founding father Ousmane Sembene brings us a story from the dark heart of Africa. In a village four girls are facing the horrible and demeaning practice of female circumcision. They seek ‘protection’ from Colle who has previously saved her daughter from the same fate. Colle invokes the time-honoured custom of moolaadé. This magical protection prevents anyone from crossing the coloured rope to get the girls. Moolaadé can only be revoked by Colle herself, so the villagers turn on her. This is Sembene’s rousing polemic against a common practice in parts of Africa. In Bambara and French with English subtitles.