About

With a stunning mix of the surreal and the naturalistic, Djibril Diop Mambéty's incendiary debut follows two young lovers as they attempt to flee the dead end clutches of Dakar for an idealised dream of life in Paris. Funding their escape through petty crime, they traverse the countryside and urban sprawl on a beat up motorbike pinned with a cow’s skull, encountering obstacles and visions, both real and mystical.

Mambety, though only 28 and with no formal film training, captures with raw, visceral energy the clash between tradition, superstition and the enforced adoption of European colonial attitudes, in a country seemingly at a crossroads.

Characterised by dazzling imagery and music, a pace that jumps between the manic and meditative, this vivid, fractured portrait of Senegal in the early 1970s is widely considered one of the most important African films ever made.

Directed by Djibril Diop Mambéty

In an interview Mambety said:

"one must have a mad belief that anything is possible....Cinema must be reinvented each time, and whoever ventures into cinema must also share in its reinvention."

Part of Open Colour’s Africa's Lost Classics series in association with the Africa in Motion Film Festival.

To introduce the film we are pleased to welcome Dr Estrella Sendra Fernandez, a documentary filmmaker, journalist, lecturer and researcher at Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton, who specialises in Senegalese festivals and African Cinema. She is also part of the curatorial team at Cambridge African Film Festival, which she directed in 2014 and 2015.

Certificate 15

Part of Cinema Club

Join us for a weekly expanded cinema experience this season each Sunday, including a film accompanied a programme of shorts, installations, music and discussion & debate as well as a delicious brunch menu in our café-bar.

2pm: café-bar open and venue events begin

4pm: feature film starts

General Information

Access

The following access tickets can be booked online: spaces for wheelchair users, seats with flat floor access, best seats for sightlines of captions / BSL interpretation (when applicable). For guidance about online booking and for further information about accessibility at the venue see our Access page here.

If you have access requirements that you would like to discuss with us or would like to book a ticket for a Personal Assistant please contact the box office on 01273 678 822 or email boxoffice@attenboroughcentre.com.

Concessions

The concession rate is available for students, University of Sussex staff, Over 60s, and people in receipt of JSA or DLA/PIP. Proof of eligibility may be required on the door or at the box office (if collecting). Personal assistance tickets are available for free for customers who would otherwise be unable to attend the venue. Please contact the box office on 01273 678822 or email boxoffice@attenboroughcentre.com for further information.

Box Office Opening Times

The box office (phone line and drop-in service) is open from 10am to 4pm, Mondays to Fridays. The box office is also open one hour before the advertised show start time.