DIRECTOR/SCREENPLAY: Djibril Diop Mambéty
PRODUCER: Silvia Voser
PRODUCTION CO: Waka Films
PHOTOGRAPHY: Stéphan Oriach
EDITOR: Stéphan Oriach
MUSIC: Issa Cissokho, Dieye Ma, Moussa N'Diaye
WITH: Demba Bâ (Dwarf), Dieye Ma (Marigo), Aminata Fall (Landlady)​

​FESTIVALS: Locarno, Toronto

REVIEWS

“The great Senegalese director Djibril Diop Mambéty… made two wonderful medium-length films in the nineties that were intended to be part of a trilogy titled “Tales of Ordinary People,” but the filmmaker died in 1998 before he could finish. In Le Franc, a broke musician comes upon a lottery ticket after his beloved instrument is confiscated by his landlady; in the posthumously released The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun, a young girl decides to sell newspapers on the streets, despite the fact that boys have historically run that racket. The two films function beautifully as a pair of magical realist works grounded in the political realities of Dakar.”

— New York Film Festival

“​Shot as part of a planned trilogy on the shocking 1994 devaluation of the CFA franc… the vibrant comedy featurette opens in the style of a city symphony film. Sounds of morning prayers, grains being shifted through sieves and jazzy tunes from a street saxophonist conjure up an aural tapestry of Senegal’s capital city, Dakar… Dialogue in the native language Wolof freely mingles with snippets of songs sung in French and Western pop culture references. Most importantly, booming over Dakar is a recurring radio news report covering both the cursed devaluation and the lottery: a winning ticket promises to pluck ordinary citizens out of economic misery.

In a film supremely guided by its sound mix, it is fitting that Marigo (Dieye Ma Dieye), the lovable protagonist, is a musician whose otherworldly daydreams fantastically fuse the regal and the everyday. A particularly striking sequence has Marigo in a classic get-up of white ruffle shirt and long black coat as he plays his congoma – a relative of the mbira, or thumb piano – while treading across a dusty landfill piled high with plastic bags. In reality, however, the penniless dreamer is behind on his rent and his beloved instrument has been confiscated by his landlord…”

​– Phuong Le, Sight & Sound

FILM SOCIETY SCREENINGS

Dunedin     
Wednesday, 02 August, 7.30pm

Palmerston North     
Wednesday, 09 August, 6.00pm

Tauranga
Tuesday, 29 August, 6.00pm​

Canterbury
Monday, 11 September, 7.00pm

Nelson
Tuesday, 19 September, 6.00pm

Hamilton     
Monday, 02 October, 6.30pm

Whanganui     
Monday, 09 October, 7.00pm

​Wellington
Monday, 16 October, 6.15pm

​New Plymouth
Wednesday, 25 October, 6.00pm

MORE AFRICAN CINEMA >>
African Cinema is presented in
​co-operation with the Institut Français and the Embassy of France