Djibril Diop Mambéty’s Last Two Films are Getting the Ciné-Concert Treatment in New York

Djibril Diop Mambéty is one of the most iconic figures in modern African cinema. His 1973 debut feature, Touki Bouki, is one of the most enduring touchstones of African film; its relatable storytelling, rich symbolism, and ever-compelling aesthetic remain captivating to date. While his subsequent filmography contains only a handful of films, the Senegalese icon’s work continues to be fawned over.

Mambéty’s last two films, Le Franc and The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun, are the focus of upcoming ciné-concerts at Film at Lincoln Center in New York. For the first time in the U.S., the musical quartet Oriki Collective will perform their original live scores during screenings of both films in collaboration with Senegalese vocalist Woz Kaly.

Le Franc and The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun were the first two films in the planned trilogy, Tales of the Little People. Mambéty passed away before the trilogy was completed. Both films are rich portraits of dreamers seeking to escape their less-than-ideal realities. Le Franc wraps its social commentary in a story laced with dark humor, while Little Girl is an affecting drama of resilience and breaking the rules.

Both films were screened in the Revival section of the 2019 New York Film Festival.

On March 18 and 20, Oriki Collective and Woz Kaly will perform their original score alongside double features of both restored films. Q&A sessions with the performing artists will follow the ciné-concerts on both days.

Oriki’s new scores were developed over five years at creative residencies in France and Senegal, where they interacted with the film’s cast and crew. The scores employ sabars and the traditional polyrhythms of the Serer and Wolof ethnic groups. Collaborating with Kaly, they’ve created absorbing soundscapes that expand on Mambéty’s magical realist works grounded in the political realities of Dakar while beautifully layering on top of the films’ original soundtracks.