14/04/2023 - Produced by La Chauve-Souris and Take Shelter and sold by Best Friend Forever, the feature debut from the French-Senegalese filmmaker is launched directly in competition at the French festival

Khady Mane and Mamadou Diallo in Banel & Adama

The surprise guest of the competition at the 76th Cannes Film Festival (16 to 27 May), which was unveiled yesterday (read the news), is without a doubt Ramata-Toulaye Sy with her feature debut Banel & Adama [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ramata-Toulaye Sy
film profile]. A 2015 graduate of the script department of the Fémis, the French-Senegalese director first earned her stripes as a writer by co-writing Sibel [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Çağla Zencirci and Guillaum…
film profile] (2018) from the duo Çağla Zencirci-Guillaume Giovanetti and Our Lady of the Nile [+see also:
film review
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film profile] by Atiq Rahimi (2019), before she stepped in front of the camera with the short film Astel (awarded in Toronto in 2021 and in Clermont-Ferrand last year, among other awards). Standing out in the cast of her feature debut are Khady Mane, Mamadou Diallo, Binta Racine Sy and Moussa Sow.

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Written by the director, the script centres on Banel and Adama who are fiercely in love and live in a small remote village in the north of Senegal. Longing for a home of their own, they have decided to live apart from their families and that Adama won’t accept his blood duty as future chief.  When Adama informs the village council of his intention, the whole community is disrupted. The rain that’s supposed to come doesn’t come. Banel and Adama will learn that where they live, there is no room for passions, let alone chaos.

Produced by French companies La Chauve-Souris and Take Shelter, Banel & Adama was co-produced by Senegal’s Astou Production and by Arte France Cinéma. Pre-bought by Arte, Canal+, TV5 and Ciné+, the feature film has also benefited from an advance of receipts by the CNC. French distribution will be handled by Tandem and international sales are in the hands of Best Friend Forever (the Belgian arm of Indie Sales).

(Translated from French)