6 Jan 2016
Directors: Abderrahmane Sissako
France, Mauritania
2014
97 min
Beautifully filmed against a backdrop of stark desert landscapes, sandy streets and the sparkling river, this is a lucid portrait of the impact foreign jihadi occupation has on everyday life in Timbuktu. The film weaves between small but significant stories of residents as they adjust to living with oppression. A traditional Muslim Tuareg herder lives peacefully with his family in the dunes on the edge of town and plays desert blues. A liberal Imam intercedes for a black woman and berates gunmen for disturbing the peace of his mosque. Sissako’s caustic sense of the absurd makes this subtle sense of clashing cultures both funny and petrifying whilst creating a powerful feel of fate inevitably playing itself out.
Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar 2015