Mouramani, a film by Mamadou Touré made in the mid fifties, was by all accounts the first African film shot in the French language. But nobody in Guinea seems to have seen it, as director Thierno Souleymane Diallo is finding out. So he sets out to find a potential remaining copy of Mouramani, which leads him to all sorts of unexpected places. The gist of this documentary The Cemetery of Cinema is that Diallo is mainly using Mouramani as a setting of point to explore film culture in Guinea. He visits an abandoned cinema, an demolished archive, a retired censor, an elderly director. They all seem to say the same thing: Mouramani does not exist anymore, and this is a fool's errand. As one person...
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- 12/9/2023
- Screen Anarchy
Movies have always thrived on the power of nostalgia, of viewers placing themselves in a historical context and seeing that self represented on screen — and this is just some of what Guinean filmmaker Thierno Souleymane Diallo explores in his debut feature “The Cemetery of Cinema.” Ostensibly the story of a quest to find a lost film — “Mouramani,” made in 1953 by Diallo’s compatriot Mamadou Touré — this documentary becomes both a playful meditation on why films matter and a rather sober examination of how history can be lost when not preserved. Diallo’s command of the thin line between absurdity and profundity makes it both an entertaining and contemplative watch.
No one is even sure what “Mouramani” is about — only that it’s the first film ever made by a Black French-speaking director who was a pioneer of the form in that region of the world, and whose work should be...
No one is even sure what “Mouramani” is about — only that it’s the first film ever made by a Black French-speaking director who was a pioneer of the form in that region of the world, and whose work should be...
- 4/28/2023
- by Murtada Elfadl
- Variety Film + TV
Final Cut, a workshop supporting films in post-production from African and Arab countries – launched by the Venice Film Festival’s industry section, Venice Production Bridge – celebrates its 10th anniversary this week.
Its goals have remained the same, however, as it continues to provide emerging filmmakers with concrete assistance as well as visibility, all the while strengthening Venice’s role as “bridge builder,” says Alessandra Speciale, its curator. The final selection features titles made by directors from nine different countries: Algeria, Jordan, Guinea, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Central African Republic and Tunisia.
This year, two additional projects were added to the usual six work-in-progress films, thanks to the France in Focus initiative, supported by Unifrance: Karim Bensalah’s debut “Black Light,” sold internationally by The Party Film Sales, and “The Cemetery of Cinema,” directed by Thierno Souleymane Diallo and marking Guinea’s first presence at the workshop.
Diallo, who has been...
Its goals have remained the same, however, as it continues to provide emerging filmmakers with concrete assistance as well as visibility, all the while strengthening Venice’s role as “bridge builder,” says Alessandra Speciale, its curator. The final selection features titles made by directors from nine different countries: Algeria, Jordan, Guinea, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Central African Republic and Tunisia.
This year, two additional projects were added to the usual six work-in-progress films, thanks to the France in Focus initiative, supported by Unifrance: Karim Bensalah’s debut “Black Light,” sold internationally by The Party Film Sales, and “The Cemetery of Cinema,” directed by Thierno Souleymane Diallo and marking Guinea’s first presence at the workshop.
Diallo, who has been...
- 9/1/2022
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
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