Djibril Diop Mambéty

January 21–February 20, 2022

Djibril Diop Mambéty’s debut, Touki Bouki, was “unlike anything in the history of African cinema” (N. Frank Ukadike). Made nearly twenty years later, Hyenas and Le franc likewise showcase “his signature mix of wild narrative style” and “impeccable political commitment,” which, along with The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun, championed Senegalese outsiders (Greg Thomas).

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Touki Bouki
A Thousand Suns
Hyenas
The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun

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Past Films

Touki Bouki
Djibril Diop Mambéty
Senegal, 1973
Friday, January 21 7 PM
“With a stunning mix of the surreal and the naturalistic,” Djibril Diop Mambéty’s celebrated debut embraces the fire of a new generation of Africans, embodied by two youngsters dreaming of escaping Senegal for Europe (Criterion). With Contras’ City, Mambéty’s first short film.
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Mambéty and His Films
Sunday, January 23 4:30 PM
Three short documentaries reveal Djibril Diop Mambéty as both filmmaker and man through his beautiful reflections on cinema; clips from his films and behind-the-scenes footage; and interviews and reflections by his friends, family, and colleagues.
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Hyenas
Djibril Diop Mambéty
Switzerland, France, Senegal, 1992
Thursday, February 17 7 PM
A wealthy woman revisits her former village with nefarious intentions in this timeless parable about human greed and the betrayal of African independence, “a wicked tale told with wit and irony” (Village Voice).
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The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun
Djibril Diop Mambéty
Senegal, 1999
Sunday, February 20 5 PM
Two films from an intended trilogy—“masterpieces of the medium-length form”—portray a poor musician and a young street girl selling newspapers among a gang of boys (Metrograph).
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Djibril Diop Mambéty

January 21–February 20, 2022

“When a story ends—or ‘falls into the ocean,’ as we say—it creates dreams,” stated Senegalese filmmaker Djibril Diop Mambéty, one of African cinema’s most legendary figures. “I do the audience justice . . . they are free to take their own path, to enter or to leave. In one word, ‘liberty’ is what characterizes what I am doing.” Born in Colobane, a small town outside Dakar, Mambéty studied acting before teaching himself filmmaking. After turning heads in 1969 with the satirical short Contras’ City, Mambéty made his feature debut with Touki Bouki (1973), a psychedelic, supercharged homage to urban Senegal’s tricksters and dreamers. “Unlike anything in the history of African cinema” (N. Frank Ukadike), the film caught audiences entirely off guard, accustomed as they were to the polite enquiries of social realist–inspired “Third World Cinema.”

Unable to overcome the hurdles of film financing in Africa...

Unable to overcome the hurdles of film financing in Africa, Mambéty disappeared from feature filmmaking for nearly twenty years, finally returning in the 1990s with Hyenas and Le franc, which showcase “his signature mix of wild narrative style, rich traditional symbolism, and virtuoso editing technique with impeccable political commitment” (Greg Thomas). In 1998, in the midst of editing The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun, part of his Tales of Ordinary People series, he passed away from lung cancer at age fifty-three. “I am interested in marginalized people,” he wrote, “because I believe that they do more for the evolution of a community than the conformists.”

— Jason Sanders, Film Notes Writer

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Organized by Kathy Geritz. With thanks to George Schmalz, Metrograph Pictures; Brian Belovarac, Janus Films; Anna Sanders Films; African Film Festival, New York; Papa Madièye Mbaye; and Laurence Gavron.

Djibril Diop Mambéty

January 21–February 20, 2022

Past Films

Touki Bouki

Mambéty and His Films

Hyenas

The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun