Touki bouki
An essential and timeless theme if ever there was one, love naturally holds a special place in cinema. Romantic, sensual, obsessive, ambiguous, forbidden, lighthearted or profound, love on screen is as diverse as the individuals who live its stories. Drawing form different eras, tones, and cinematic styles, this program brings together a selection of remarkable films that will warm your heart from the start of the winter season to Valentine’s Day.
Winner of the International Critics Award, 1973 Cannes Film Festival
An antisocial young man and his girlfriend dream of leaving Senegal and moving to Paris. A rarely-seen portrait of Senegalese marginality.

Djibril Diop Mambéty
Djibril Diop Mambéty was a Senegalese actor, screenwriter, and film director, born in Colobane, near Dakar. He is considered one of the most influential African filmmakers of his generation. At just 17, Mambéty founded Senegal's first café-théâtre. Shortly afterward, the director of the French Cultural Centre in Dakar lent him equipment and a cameraman to create his first short films, Contras’ City and Badou Boy. In 1973, he directed his groundbreaking debut feature, Touki bouki, and a follow-up, Hyènes (1992), a tale of a humiliated woman seeking revenge. Together, these two films form a diptych exploring themes of power and madness. In 1995, Mambéty began to work on a trilogy titled Histoires de petites gens. He completed two parts: Le franc (1995), which won Best Short Film at the Milan African Film Festival, and La petite vendeuse de soleil (1999). He tragically passed away from lung cancer in 1998 while editing this final installment. He was the subject of the 2008 documentary Mambéty For Ever and is the uncle of actress and filmmaker Mati Diop.
