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Between Desert and Sea: A Mauritanian film series

From May 27, 2022 until June 17, 2022Fridays at 7:30 p.m.
CORDOBA
Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Samuel de los Santos Gener, 9). Fridays at 7:30 p.m.
Films shown in the original language version with subtitles in Spanish.

Throughout the months of May and June, Casa Árabe is devoting its film schedule in Cordoba to Mauritanian film, as a complement to our display of contemporary cultural works produced in that country, forming the contents of the exhibition "Memories in Motion: Contemporary art from Mauritania."

This selection of films includes the most emblematic movie in all of Mauritania’s cinema, Heremakono (“Waiting for Happiness”), whose director, filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako,is one of Africa’s most charismatic personages.

We have also scheduled the documentary “Awaiting the Men” (“En attendant les hommes”) by director Katy Léna Ndiaye, a critically acclaimed film at the time of its release.

The film “Oh, Sun” (“Soleil Ô”)* is an African cinema classic and point of reference in the denunciation of slavery and conditions among the migrant population in Europe. The selection of feature films is rounded off with “Malouma, Diva of the Sands” (“Malouma, diva des sables”) by Cheikh N’diaye. It is a documentary about the well-known Mauritanian singer, one of the best-known international voices in the country’s music scene. This film series also includes two recently produced short-subject films that express their authors’ concern for environmental conservation and respect for nature.

The series is being hosted with the support of the African Film Festival of Tarifa.

*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. 
  • Film: “Oh, Sun” (“Soleil Ô”)

    May 27, 20227:30 p.m.
    CORDOBA
    Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Samuel de los Santos Gener, 9). 7:30 p.m. 4 euros for the general public at Casa Árabe.
    3 euros: tickets purchased online, the officially unemployed, Casa Árabe Language Center students and Youth Card holders. You must complete the payment at least one week before the workshop is held. You may pay for registration through our website (by clicking on the “purchase tickets” button) or at Casa Árabe’s headquarters in Cordoba (in cash or by credit card). 
    On Friday May 27th begins in Cordoba the cycle that we dedicate to Mauritanian cinema with the screening of this film by Med Hondo. Buy your ticket online now. 
    “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. 
  • Double feature session: Awaiting the Men (“En attendant les Hommes”) and “Tekkere”

    June 03, 20227:30 p.m.
    CORDOBA
    Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Samuel de los Santos Gener, 9). 7:30 p.m. 4 euros for the general public at Casa Árabe.
    3 euros: tickets purchased online, the officially unemployed, Casa Árabe Language Center students and Youth Card holders. You must complete the payment at least one week before the workshop is held. You may pay for registration through our website (by clicking on the “purchase tickets” button) or at Casa Árabe’s headquarters in Cordoba (in cash or by credit card). 
    Films shown in the original language version with subtitles in Spanish.
    On Friday, June 3, we will have a new session of Mauritanian cinema in Cordoba. On this occasion, we offer a double program that includes a short and a feature documentary. Buy your ticket online now.
    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.
  • Film: Heremakono (“Waiting for Happiness”)

    June 10, 20227:30 p.m.
    CORDOBA
    Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Samuel de los Santos Gener, 9). 7:30 p.m. 4 euros for the general public at Casa Árabe.
    3 euros: tickets purchased online, the officially unemployed, Casa Árabe Language Center students and Youth Card holders. You must complete the payment at least one week before the workshop is held. You may pay for registration through our website (by clicking on the “purchase tickets” button) or at Casa Árabe’s headquarters in Cordoba (in cash or by credit card). 
    Films shown in the original language version with subtitles in Spanish.
    On Friday June 10 we offer in Cordoba this classic of Mauritanian cinema by filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako. Tickets for the screening are already on sale online.
    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...
  • Double feature session: “Achajara” and “Malouma, Diva of the Sands” (“Malouma, diva des Sables”)

    June 17, 20227:30 p.m.
    CORDOBA
    Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Samuel de los Santos y Gener, 9). 7:30 p.m. 4 euros for the general public at Casa Árabe.
    3 euros: tickets purchased online, the officially unemployed, Casa Árabe Language Center students and Youth Card holders. You must complete the payment at least one week before the workshop is held. You may pay for registration through our website (by clicking on the “purchase tickets” button) or at Casa Árabe’s headquarters in Cordoba (in cash or by credit card).
    Films shown in the original language version with subtitles in Spanish.
    The cycle that we have dedicated during the months of May and June to Mauritanian cinematography comes to an end in Cordoba. We will end on Friday June 17 with a double session in which a short film and a feature documentary will be shown. Tickets already on sale online.
    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.