“This 1973 first feature by Senegalese director Djibril Diop Mambety is one of the greatest of all African films and almost certainly the most experimental.” —Chicago Reader
Much affected by New Wave style, Djibril Diop Mambety’s feature debut begins as an African parody of Dennis Hopper’s Easy Rider (1969). Mory and his girlfriend Anta would like to immigrate from Senegal to Paris, but there’s this little problem—their motorcycle can’t get them across the Atlantic. So they circle, trying to scrounge the money for a ticket, while the soundtrack recycles ironic snippets of Josephine Baker singing about how “Paris! Paris!” is really “Paradis.”
The new 35mm print was restored by the World Cinema Foundation. 1973, Senegal, in Wolof, Arabic, and French with English subtitles, 85 minutes.
Introduced by Charles Sugnet, University of Minnesota.