The Cinematheque

“A cinematic poem made with a raw, wild energy.”

Martin Scorsese

The only African entry in BBC’s 2018 poll of greatest foreign-language (i.e. non-English-language) films, legendary Senegalese auteur Djibril Diop Mambéty’s first feature is a truly watershed work in African cinema. Eschewing the neo-realist approach favoured by ​“Father of African Film” Ousmane Sembène, Mambéty instead drew inspiration from the exuberant French New Wave—most patently, peak Godard—for this radical lovers-on-the-lam debut, a vivid mashup of Pierrot le fou and Wolof culture. Mory and Anta are young lovers and outcasts who envision fuller, freer lives in Europe, a land of imagined prosperity. Straddling a motorcycle emblazoned with zebu horns, the couple embark on a looting spree across Dakar to fund their escape. The frenetic editing, splashes of surrealism, and outré soundtrack heralded Mambéty as a revolutionary in world cinema. International Critics’ Prize, Cannes 1973. In Wolof with English subtitles.

Advisory: Touki bouki contains graphic scenes of animal slaughter.

“Touki bouki is the one African movie that will survive the test of time and forever be relevant. It is a unique film, as unique as Mambéty himself.”

Timbuktu director Abderrahmane Sissako