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Soleil Ô [Oh, Sun] (Med Hondo, 1970)
Dec
10
Human Rights Day
“Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.”
– Universal Declaration of Human Rights, United Nations General Assembly
A Mauritanian immigrant (Robert Liensol) too starts anew in Paris. But first, he'll need a job.
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المخدوعون [Al-makhdu'un / The Dupes] (Tawfiq Saleh, 1972)
Nov
2
النَّكْبَة
Starting over*
“A man with no country, will have no grave in the Earth, I forbid you to leave.”
A few years after the start of the Nakba, three generations hope to make a new life for themselves. In the steel belly of a water truck, the men travel Palestine into Iraq, then crossing the desert towards the promised land, Kuwait.
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for November is, again, not date-based, but follows a sloppy schmaltzy all-American Thanksgiving-y narrative. Trying to make it work my way.
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Touki bouki [Journey of the Hyena] (Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1973)
Jun
23
National Pink Day
Mory (Magaye Niang) and Anta (Myriam Niang) in romanticised European outfits. DP: Georges Bracher.
“Paris, Paris, Paris
C'est sur la Terre un coin de paradis
Paris, Paris, Paris,
De mes amours c′est lui le favori
Mais oui, mais oui, pardi
Ce que j'en dis on vous l′a déjà dit
Et c'est Paris, qui fait la parisienne
Qu′importe, qu'elle vienne du nord ou bien du midi
Et c'est aussi le charme et l′élégance
Et l′âme de la France
Tout cela, mais c'est Paris”
Cowherd Mory and student Anta journey from Dakar to their new destination, the city of Paris.