PRODUCTION / FUNDING Luxembourg / Senegal
Moussa Touré is preparing his new feature, Poussière Rouge
- The Senegalese director’s new endeavour is being produced by Luxembourg’s a_BAHN and Senegal’s Les Films du Crocodile
In the community of Saint Louis in Senegal, the installation of a Chinese merchant is causing a stir. Souleymane, a young Senegalese employed in the store, tries to quiet the situation, which is becoming increasingly explosive as red dust invades the neighbourhood, exacerbating resentments and unspoken accusations. This is the story of Moussa Touré’s new film, a dramedy entitled Poussière Rouge, penned in collaboration with Stéphan Roelants, producer and founder of animation studio Mélusine Productions. Touré directed his debut feature back in 1991, Toubab Bi, and is best known for his drama The Pirogue [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2012), which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes Film Festival.
Speaking about his new endeavour, the Senegalese filmmaker said: “Poussière Rouge is the result of two years of meetings, reflections and research. My first encounter with the theme was a row battle I witnessed between Chinese people and other merchants in one of our most beautiful streets in Dakar. Then I had to wait until 2016 to meet a young Senegalese, Assane, living and working in a Chinese shop, who made me meet a Chinese family for the first time. I got to spend a few days with them and to share their daily lives. There, I discovered a world that I didn’t know existed. A world that boils down to a relationship of taking and giving nothing.”
Meanwhile, Roelants added: “To succeed in denouncing one of the many forms of economic neo-colonialism extending from one pole to the other was certainly a challenge, but above all a necessity. In order to evoke this outrageous liberalism in one of its most symbolic aspects, China’s stranglehold on Africa, we could only do so through dramatic comedy. Indeed, the hypocrisy of this system dresses its speakers in ridiculous clichés and characteristic behaviours. Being able to lift a corner of the veil by bringing the spectator into a representative microcosm is a subtle exercise.”
Finally, a_BAHN’s producer François Le Gall explained that this new film “fits perfectly with a_BAHN’s philosophy of making socially important projects and focusing on authors who develop a challenging narrative with high artistic value and an international audience.”
Poussière Rouge is being produced by Luxembourgish outfit a_BAHN and Dakar-based Les Films du Crocodile (Senegal). The project is backed by Film Fund Luxembourg, the country’s audiovisual agency, and will be released in 2022.