Film still: Mandabi (1968)
Set in Dakar, Mandabi (1968) tells the story of Ibrahim (Makhouredia Gueye) and the transformative effect that a 25,000 franc money order from his nephew in Paris has on his fortunes. Word quickly travels about his new found wealth, while a thousand bureaucratic obstacles stand in the path between him and his money.
With this startlingly funny yet sharp satire on post-independence African nations, the first feature to be shot in an African language (Wolof), Sembène invited the world to reorient itself towards his continent while simultaneously ‘restor[ing] Africa’s stories to Africans’.
Winner of the Grand Jury prize at the Venice Film Festival, Sembène’s adaptation of his own novella set a new course for African cinema: radical, anti-colonial and proudly independent in its methods.
Dir: Ousmane Sembène Senegal
Cast: Makhouredia Gueye, Isseu Niang, Ynousse N’Diaye
Wolof & French with English subtitles
92 min. PG
ACCESS
- English subtitles
- The room will be dark while the film is playing
- The screening is seated