Feature film
Faraw! Mother of the Dunes
Faraw ! Une mère des sables
Abdoulaye Ascofaré · 1997
Synopsis
In a desolate region of northern Mali, on the edge of the Sahara, Zamiatou, a mother of three, alone bears the survival of her family: her husband, a former political prisoner, has come home unable to work, his body and mind broken. Food is scarce, the grocer no longer extends credit, and she comes to think of sending her daughter to work in the mining district. The film spans twenty-four hours of her life.
Context
For this first feature film, the director shoots in Songhai with Aminata Ousmane Maïga, a Malian mother of a family for whom this is a first role, Amina Keïta and Balla Moussa Keïta. It was screened in 2003 in Albany, in New York State, and was released on DVD in the United States in 2007, by ArtMattan, in a box set of African films; the Institut français distributed it in digital form in 2016.
Who it is for
A 90-minute feature film, in subtitled Songhai, built on the unity of time of a single day.
Prizes and reception
Bayard d'or for artistic creation in Namur in 1997; several Pan-African prizes in Pretoria, including the one for best actress.
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