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A small and remote village in northern Senegal today.
Banel and Adama are fiercely in love. Longing for a home of their own, they have decided to live apart from their families and that Adama will not accept his blood duty as future chief.
But when Adama informs the village council of his intentions, the whole community is disrupted. The rain that is supposed to come does not come and the star-crossed lovers learn that where they live, there is no room for passions, let alone for chaos.
Banel and Adama are fiercely in love. Longing for a home of their own, they have decided to live apart from their families and that Adama will not accept his blood duty as future chief.
But when Adama informs the village council of his intentions, the whole community is disrupted. The rain that is supposed to come does not come and the star-crossed lovers learn that where they live, there is no room for passions, let alone for chaos.
Director
French-senegalese Ramata-Toulaye SY was born and raised in the Paris region. She joined La fémis in 2011 in the Screenwriting department, from which she graduated in 2015. Ramata-Toulaye worked, among others, as a screenwriter on the film ‘Sibel’ (2018) by C. Zencirci and G. Giovanetti as well as on ‘Our Lady of the Nile’ (2019) by A. Rahimi. In 2020, Ramata-Toulaye directed her first short film, ‘Astel’, selected in more than 80 festivals and pre-selected for the 2023 César Awards. ‘Banel & Adama’ is her first feature film.
Cast & crew
CAST
Khady Mane
Mamadou Diallo
Binta Racine Sy
Moussa Sow
PRODUCERS
La Chauve-Souris (The Pirogue)
Take Shelter
Astou Production
Festivals and awards
- CANNES 2023 - OFFICIAL COMPETITION
- TIFF 2023 - CENTREPIECE SECTION
- MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL - WINNER BRIGHT HORIZONS
- BFI LONDON FILM FESTIVAL
- MARRAKECH IFF - BEST DIRECTING PRIZE
"A dreamlike debut. Banel, beautifully played by Mane who, even when we don’t, seems to perfectly understand her character’s joys and miseries and her flashes of prideful feminine ego."
"Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s Debut Film Is Striking And Sophisticated. It’s as a performance piece that it really gets under your skin."
"Gorgeous Senegalese debut, the combination of ethereal voiceover with nature at its most breathtaking evokes our cinema’s philosophical high priest, Terrence Malick.”
"This is an impressive piece of work from a natural film-maker."
