Cinema
Dilemme au féminin
Zara Mahamat Yacoub · 1994
Synopsis
This twenty-four-minute documentary, shot on video, deals with the excision of girls in Chad. The director, who wanted to join the fight against this practice, films an excision, in scenes of a cruelty hard to bear, and leads the viewer to the heart of the issue. These images, in which the nudity of the mutilated child appears, are the ones that later led to their author being accused of blasphemy.
Context
The film was shown in 1995 in Burkina Faso. The imam of the great mosque of N'Djamena judged certain scenes blasphemous, including that of the excision, and a fatwa was pronounced against the director, while an association of young Muslims demanded sanctions against her and against the director of the television; women's rights networks issued an appeal in her favour. Awarded prizes at several festivals, including Vues d'Afrique, it was also screened in 1999 at Concordia University, in Montreal.
Who it is for
A short documentary; some very harsh images of excision make it suitable only for an informed audience.
Prizes and reception
According to Beti Ellerson, it attracted a great deal of attention from 1995, as far afield as Europe and North America.
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