THE WAGONER
Senegal, 1963
Original title: Borom Sarret
Director: Ousmane Sembène. Screenplay: Ousmane Sembène. Cinematographer: Christian Lacoste. Editor: André Gaudier. Cast and characters: Ly Abdoulay (the carter), Albourah (the horse). Length: 22′.
Format: DCP. Source and under licence from Cineteca di Bologna.
Original version. Subtitles: English
Restoration by World Cinema Foundation in 2012 in conjunction with INA in its Laboratoires Éclair and Cineteca di Bologna/L’immagine Ritrovata (Bologna).
It is the story of a carter who improvises himself as a taxi driver. In a residential area where the circulation of such vehicles is prohibited, a policeman stops him and confiscates his cart. Deprived of the only source of income, the poor man is forced to stay at home and is entrusted with the custody of the children by his wife who tells him: “Tonight we will have something to eat”.
“Given the great variety of African languages, I believe that we African directors should make our message understandable to everyone, find a language that comes from images and gestures. On the contrary, I go so far as to say that we should look to the past and learn from the lesson of silent cinema. Contrary to popular belief, in Africa we talk a lot but we talk when it’s time to talk. There are also those who say that black people spend all their time dancing. But we have our reasons. There’s nothing wrong with dancing, but I’ve never seen an engineer dance in front of his car. An entire continent, an entire people, does not spend time dancing. All this means that the African director has a very important task: he has to find his own path, he has to find his own symbols and even create them if necessary. […] I then shot Borom Sarret, my first real short film. ” (Ousmane Sembène)
Saturday 30 April 2022, h. 12:45 pm