At the last Cannes Festival this past May Abderrahmane Sissako's slow burn-tale about a town's descent into Islamist hell was the first movie I saw. By the end of fest (that is, about fifty movies later), "Timbuktu" waded around my brain like a very sweet but anxiety-inducing dream I once had. It's now nearly a year later now and director Sissako has triumphed as France's best filmmaker, ... more >
ARCHIVES
FRENCH AWARDS GET SISSAKOED, Timbuktu sweeps awards table
This year marked forty for French movie awards
SUNDAY OPINION: POLITICIANS don’t make good movie critics (and probably never will)
A small-town mayor does small-time things sometimes
Alternate reality ahead: keep your eyes peeled
FRANCE - This week, the right wing-leaning mayor of a small Parisian suburban town ordered local theaters to take the film “Timbuktu” (directed by Abderrahmane Sissako) off its program slate “in the name of the fight against glorifying terrorism.” The terrorist attacks that occurred in France last week have had many consequences, this incomprehensible cancelation of “Timbuktu” by Monsieur le ... more >
CANNES DAY 1 – TIMBUKTU
Narrating the story of the African continent
Directed by Aberrahmane Cissako
Compelling and marketable cinema usually comes from the same continents, over and over again. Countries in those continents (Europe, North America, and Asia) have the kind of support structures that ensure that out of the ever-expanding lot of budding filmmakers some film school graduates are going to become noteworthy filmmakers and will bring films to first-tier fests like Cannes. The reverse ... more >