LA PIROGUE

Baye Laye (Souleymane Seye Ndiaye) captains a fishing pirogue off the coast of Senegal. He knows the sea and does not want to leave. But he has no choice: he is to take thirty men across the Atlantic to the Canary Islands, to Spain, to Europe. Lansana (Laïty Fall) has organised the crossing; on board are Wolof, Guinean and Pulaar men who do not understand one another, along with Nafy (Mame Astou Diallo), the only woman. The “Goor Fitt” casts off, and what follows is solitude on the open sea, a storm, engine failure, hunger. “La Pirogue” by Moussa Touré, Senegal 2012.

Touré tells the crossing almost in real time on the cramped boat, as a chamber piece played out in the open air, in which hope turns step by step into calculation and dying. The film screened at Cannes in 2012 in the Un Certain Regard section, won the award for best international film in Munich, and in 2013 won the Prix Lumières for best francophone film as well as the Bronze Stallion at Fespaco in Ouagadougou. The film was shown at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in 2012.

Shown at the 2012 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.

All films 2012 · Film Archive