BANEL & ADAMA
MQ Hof 8
MQ Arena 21
Free Entry
SEN | FRA 2023 | Feature film | D: Ramata-Toulaye Sy | 87 min. | OV with German Subtitles
With Khady Mane, Mamadou Diallo, Binta Racine Sy, Moussa Sow, Oumar Samba Dia, Sawdatou Sy and others
Script: Ramata-Toulaye Sy
Camera: Emine Berrada
Editing: Vincent Tricon
Original sound: Benjamin Silvestre, Olivier Voisin, Jean-Pierre Laforce
Music: Bachar Mar-Khalité
Costume: Mariam Diop
Set design: Oumar Sall
Producers: Margaux Juvénal, Maud Leclair, Éric Névé
Production: La Chauve-Souris & Take Shelter
In a remote village in northern Senegal, Banel and Adama are a young couple passionately in love. Neither of them submit to the traditions and gender roles that characterise life in the village community. Banel is not interested in doing laundry with the other women or working in the fields, but prefers to roam the countryside with the men to tend the herds of cattle. Adama refuses to take on the role of village chief, which his late brother took on before him. When the village is hit by an unusual, unpredictable drought, an unhinged nature begins to dominate life in the village. Banel and Adama's rebellious plans for their future are also jeopardised by the new climatic and all-determining constraints.
Ramata-Toulaye Sy, born in France in 1986, graduated from the screenwriting class at Fémis. After her studies, she co-authored Sibel by Ç. Zencirci and G. Giovanetti (2018), then Notre-Dame du Nil by A. Rahimi (2019). In 2021, she made her first short film Astel, which was selected and awarded at over 80 festivals. Two years later, the director returned with her first feature film Banel & Adama. The Senegalese story, shot in the Fulani language, premiered in competition at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival and represented Senegal at the 2024 Oscars.