Xalé
Date & Time: Sunday 12th at 6:15pm
Location & Tickets: The Gate Cinema
Details: Moussa Sène Absa / Senegal, Ivory Coast / 2022 / 101 mins
Starring: Nguissaly Barry, Rokhaya Niang, Ibrahima Mbaye Tché
Synopsis: Awa and Adama are 15-year-old siblings living in a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Dakar. Awa, bright and intelligent, excels at school. Adama prefers to sell trinkets on the street and has his eyes set upon the precarious journey across water to France. Following the death of their grandmother, the children stay with their uncle Atoumane, who is arranged to be married to their cousin Fatou. But she has no feelings for Atoumane and her rejection of him catalyses an act of violence that tears the family apart. Ten years later, Atoumane returns to the village, where there is a sense of trepidation, particularly felt by Awa, whose life was irrevocably altered by him.
“The latest film from the veteran Senegalese director blends narrative styles and traditions, from local folklore to Western-style soap opera, to make its tale of female subjugation and self-liberation as universal as possible.” – Variety.
Official Selection, BFI London Film Festival 2022.
