The influence and reputation of Djibril Diop Mambéty’s Touki Bouki, a film that “tears up the screen with fantasies of African modernity never before seen on film” (Manthia Diawara), has only continued to grow in the 50 years since its release.
Iconoclasts Mory and Anta are two lovers whose restlessness towards post-independence Senegalese society lead them to plan an escape to a romanticized Paris, where they expect to find freedom. Mory is a cattle herder, but his reckless grifting in order to realize their getaway plan links him to the bouki (hyena, the traditional trickster figure of the title). The film becomes a road movie following the adventures of the rebellious couple as they ride through a fantasy landscape of Dakar on a motorcycle accessorized with a pair of steer horns.
Touki Bouki’s experimental narrative and poetic deployment of sound and image was a bold departure and counter to the primarily realist films of African cinema at the time. While the influence of the French New Wave can be detected in the kinetic editing style and fragmented narrative, Mambéty’s use of these elements in service of his own idiosyncratic vision of Senegal’s transformation — with gestures toward oral tradition — is what garnered the International Critics Award at the Cannes Film Festival and the FIPRESCI award at the Moscow International Film Festival in 1973. Recently ranked #66 in Sight and Sound’s 100 Greatest Films of All Time, its immediacy, sophistication, and raw energy make Touki Bouki’s surrealist storytelling as relevant as ever.
ROBYN CITIZEN
Official Selection, 2023 Toronto International Film Festival
Touki Bouki was restored in 2008 by the Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and the family of director Djibril Diop Mambéty. Restoration funded by Armani, Cartier, Qatar Airways, and Qatar Museum Authority.
TIFF Classics
Touki Bouki
Djibril Diop Mambéty
Playing as part of Touki Bouki Anniversary Screening with Talk
The influence and reputation of Djibril Diop Mambéty’s Touki Bouki, a film that “tears up the screen with fantasies of African modernity never before seen on film” (Manthia Diawara), has only continued to grow in the 50 years since its release.
Iconoclasts Mory and Anta are two lovers whose restlessness towards post-independence Senegalese society lead them to plan an escape to a romanticized Paris, where they expect to find freedom. Mory is a cattle herder, but his reckless grifting in order to realize their getaway plan links him to the bouki (hyena, the traditional trickster figure of the title). The film becomes a road movie following the adventures of the rebellious couple as they ride through a fantasy landscape of Dakar on a motorcycle accessorized with a pair of steer horns.
Touki Bouki’s experimental narrative and poetic deployment of sound and image was a bold departure and counter to the primarily realist films of African cinema at the time. While the influence of the French New Wave can be detected in the kinetic editing style and fragmented narrative, Mambéty’s use of these elements in service of his own idiosyncratic vision of Senegal’s transformation — with gestures toward oral tradition — is what garnered the International Critics Award at the Cannes Film Festival and the FIPRESCI award at the Moscow International Film Festival in 1973. Recently ranked #66 in Sight and Sound’s 100 Greatest Films of All Time, its immediacy, sophistication, and raw energy make Touki Bouki’s surrealist storytelling as relevant as ever.
ROBYN CITIZEN
Official Selection, 2023 Toronto International Film Festival
Commemorating the 50th anniversary of Djibril Diop Mambéty’s landmark film Touki Bouki, this screening will include a panel discussion moderated by Akoroko Founder and CEO Tambay A. Obenson with special guests.
Touki Bouki was restored in 2008 by the Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and the family of director Djibril Diop Mambéty. Restoration funded by Armani, Cartier, Qatar Airways, and Qatar Museum Authority.