You are invited to view two African Films.


Thursday, June 29, 7 p.m.
4070 Vilas Hall- Parliamentary Room


The following two films are in honor of Director Mambety and his work: Le
Franc (1993, 45 minutes, video) and La Petite Vendeuse de Soleil (1999, 45
minutes, 35 mm.) Director: Djibril Diop Mambety

Le Franc.

Director Mambety uses the French government's 50% devaluation of the West
African Franc (CFA) in 1994 as the basis for a whimsical but cynical
parable about the plight of everyday Africans.  Impoverished by this
devaluation, the national lotteries became the only hope for salvation.
The hero, Marigo, an African Charlie Chaplin, a poor Everyman, holds the
winning ticket but glues it to a door from which it must be removed.  He
carries the door to the shore to see if the waves will wash it off.  The
dreams of being a musician help penniless Marigo survive in a world of
bureaucratic red-tape, urban decay and economic chaos.

La Petite Vendeuse de Soleil (The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun).

 This film is the masterpiece left by Director Mambety who died in July
1998. In this last film, Mambety moves beyond merely documenting Africa's
centuries' old victimization towards envisioning the continent's recovery.
He uses the simple tale of a crippled, yet resilient, little girl, Sili
Laam, who is unjustly stopped by a police in the market place, but who
refuses to accept demeaning roles society assumes it can place on her and
others. Sili Laam, a poor, young, female, heroic rebel, sees the world as
it should be, giving hope to the resourcefulness of people and their
ability to transform events.  Her struggle for her economic independence
against an unjust marketplace is a metaphor for Africa's struggle to
survive in an increasingly globalized economy.

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