“Oh, Sun” (“Soleil Ô”) by Med HondoFiction; Mauritania; 98 minutes (1969).
The film Oh, Sun, shot over four years on a shoestring budget, tells the story of a black immigrant who makes his way to Paris, to the country of “his ancestors, the Gauls.”

This film manifesto speaks out against a new form of slavery: the immigrant desperately seeking work, a place to live, but finding only indifference, rejection, humiliation... until his last outcry of rebellion.

“Oh, Sun” is the title of a West Indian song that narrates the pain felt by Africans from Dahomey (now Benin) taken to the Caribbean as slaves.

Version restored by the Cineteca di Bologna at the L'Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in collaboration with Med Hondo. Restoration funded by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation and The Film Foundation's World Cinema Project. 

Awaiting the Men (“En attendant les Hommes”) by Katy Léna Ndiaye.
Documentary; Mauritania, Belgium, Senegal; 56 minutes (2007).
The setting is Oualata, the red city at the edge of the Mauritanian desert. In this place, an ephemeral shelter to protect from the sands, three women practice the art of traditional painting by decorating the walls of the city’s houses. In a society supposedly dominated by tradition, religion and men, these women express their way of perceiving the relationship between men and women with surprising freedom.

Tekkere by Medina Ibrahima N’diaye; Documentary; Mauritania; 15 minutes; (2017).
In recent years, Nouakchott has undergone a notable downturn in sanitary conditions, with piles of garbage giving off a foul smell that stinks up the population’s living space. Malick, a young sheep farmer from the district of Kebba, tries to do something about this blight by raising awareness, staging plays about the subject and clean-up days. With the help of Alpha, the fishmonger, and Khattary, the shopkeeper, who live across from the dump, they keep watch to dissuade garbage collectors and set up a monitoring and control committee at all the most sensitive spots.

Heremakono (“Waiting for Happiness”) by Abderrahmane Sissako; Fiction; Mauritania; 95 minutes; original language version with Spanish subtitles; (2002)
Abdallah, a young Mauritanian boy, goes to pick his mother up in Nouadhibou, as he awaits his trip to Europe. In this place of exile where he does not understand the language, he attempts to decipher the world around him: Nana, a young woman who tries to seduce him; Makan, who dreams of traveling away like Abdallah; Maata, an old fisherman turned electrician; or the young, wide-eyed Khatra, who helps him out of isolation by teaching him the local dialect.

Conversations crisscross and separate, but always with a fixed gaze on the horizon, awaiting some theoretical happiness...

Achajara by Cheikh Mohamed Horma; Fictional short-subject film; Mauritania, Morocco; 9 minutes (2017)
A lumberjack crosses the desert carrying his supplies. He contemplates the peace and quiet of nature. He grows tired and sits in the shade of a tree, alone in the empty space.

“Malouma, Diva of the Sands” (“Malouma, diva des Sables”) by Cheikh N’diaye, Documentary, France, Mauritania; 53 minutes (2005)
Malouma Mint Meidah is a well-known singer from Mauritania, heiress to a dynasty of poet-singers. Breaking with tradition, Malouma decides to defend women’s right to education with her songs. This decision will end up getting her expelled from her own country. After having performed on major international stages, Malouma goes on a concert tour in Mauritania for the first time in ten years. The film gives us the chance to discover the personality of this amazing singer, her music, her struggles and her country.