"Cinq jours d’une vie" is about a young man, N'Tji, orphaned at an early age, who lives under the supervision of his uncle. He is sent to Koranic school, where he is forced to memorize and recite verses of the Koran; soon, N’Tji escapes and begins to craft his own destiny. Unfortunately, he is found and thrown in prison, and must live with the implications upon release. In this film, Cissé explores the institution of the Koranic school and its detrimental effects on young people’s autonomy and ability to explore their futures.
A man who has a body almost completely covered in tattoos is searching for the woman who cursed him with the "skin illustrations". Each tattoo reveals a bizarre story, which is experienced by staring at the scene depicted. When the illustrated man meets a fellow tramp on the road a strange voyage begins.
The Illustrated Man
1969
5
Seven short films - each one focused on the plight of a different child protagonist.
Les enfants invisibles
2005
7
A young student from a family which considers itself "progressive" cannot marry the boy she loves as he comes from the caste of the smiths who are viewed as pariahs.
Le sang des parias
1973
5
On the one hand, there’s the desert eating away at the land. The endless dry season, the lack of water. On the other there’s the threat of war. The village well has run dry. The livestock is dying. Trusting their instinct, most of the villagers leave and head south. Rahne, the only literate one, decides to head east with his three children and Mouna, his wife. A few sheep, some goats, and Chamelle, a dromedary, are their only riches. A tale of exodus, quest, hope and fatality.
Si le vent soulève les sables
2007
6
A failed track coach finally finds someone who he believes has what it takes to win. The Comrades Marathon is a 90-k race in South Africa. An aging running coach, Barry, wants to field a winner; he's working with four men from a factory, but when he's fired to make way for a smooth, corporate type, he's at loose ends. Then he sees Christine, a Namibian immigrant who runs to forget her troubles. He offers to coach her and soon she's living at his house, following his diet and training regimen. But his single-mindedness gets to her: she wants a job and a place of her own. Plus, the man who replaced Barry likes her and wants her away from Barry. Can runner and coach (woman and man, African and European) sort out their complex relationship before the race? Written by
The Long Run
2001
6
Tamsir returns to Senegal after 17 years in Europe. His uncle gives him a patronage job in Dakar, virtually without duties. He visits his family's village to see his parents, and there he meets the beautiful Lissa. Tamsir espouses traditional ways, as does Lissa, but when her parents agree to marry her off to a corrupt and well-spoken member of parliament, Tamsir and Lissa dishonor the family and she becomes pregnant. The MP's response, his and Tasmir's uncle's plan to capture the village farmland, the reactions of Lissa's parents, who are strict followers of Islam, the disaffection of Dakar youth, and the dreams of a village mechanic to find "Saaraba" (Utopia) complete the story.
Saaraba
1988
5
Inspector Rizzo in Napoli gets a message from a policeman from South Africa who wants to meet him. Immediately before this meeting the South African policeman is killed. Dying he shows Rizzo a picture of his young son Bodo. Rizzo travels to Johannesburg to find out what the policeman was working on and to find Bodo.
Piedone l'africano
1978
6
Tradition and AIDS in Africa. What to do when the respect of tradition is at odds with the community's health?
Scénarios d'Afrique: L'arbre et le vent
2004
0
Praia, Cape Verde. Laura, Flavia and Bela are childhood friends. Each leads her own life and they sometimes meet to dance, dine and have fun. But one day the calm rivers of their lives break their banks and become wild torrents: Ricardo, Flavia's husband, rapes his pupil Indira, Laura's 13-year old eldest daughter. A film that takes a critical look at the lives of women in Cape Verde.
Cabo Verde nha cretcheu
2007
7
Bizet's Carmen gets a modern adaptation. Seducting, provocating, sensual. All the ingredients for a perfect drama. With her charm, Karmen gets out of many situations.
Karmen Geï
2001
4
David Locke is a world-weary American journalist who has been sent to cover a conflict in northern Africa, but he makes little progress with the story. When he discovers the body of a stranger who looks similar to him, Locke assumes the dead man's identity. However, he soon finds out that the man was an arms dealer, leading Locke into dangerous situations. Aided by a beautiful woman, Locke attempts to avoid both the police and criminals out to get him.
Professione: reporter
1975
7
Hector is a quirky psychiatrist who has become increasingly tired of his humdrum life. As he tells his girlfriend, Clara, he feels like a fraud: he hasn’t really tasted life, and yet he’s offering advice to patients who are just not getting any happier. So Hector decides to break out of his deluded and routine driven life. Armed with buckets of courage and child-like curiosity, he embarks on a global quest in hopes of uncovering the elusive secret formula for true happiness. And so begins a larger than life adventure with riotously funny results.
Hector and the Search for Happiness
2014
6
An epic about anthropologists who hunt and capture pygmies for study back in Europe, in an attempt to illustrate the link between man and ape.
Man to Man
2005
6
The story of Dian Fossey, a scientist who came to Africa to study the vanishing mountain gorillas, and later fought to protect them.
Gorillas in the Mist
1988
6
Two adventurers and best friends, Roland and Manu, are the victims of a practical joke that costs Manu his pilot's license. With seeming contrition, the jokesters tell Roland and Manu about a crashed plane lying on the ocean floor off the coast of Congo stuffed with riches. The adventurers set off to find the loot.
Les Aventuriers
1967
6
A fearsome 19th century bandit, Cobra Verde cuts a swath through Brazil until he arrives at the sugar plantation of Don Octávio Countinho. Not knowing that his new guest is the notorious bandit and impressed by his ruthless ways, Don Octávio hires Cobra Verde to oversee his slaves. But when Cobra Verde impregnates Don Octávio’s three daughters, the incensed plantation owner exiles the outlaw to Africa where he is expected to reopen the slave trade. Following his trans-Atlantic journey, Cobra Verde exploits tribal conflicts to commandeer an abandoned fortress and whips an army of naked warriors into a frenzied bloodlust as he vies for survival.
Cobra Verde
1987
6
Rick Morgan, an American engineer who runs a mine in East Africa, is approached one day by his friend Jim Scott, who needs someplace to store canisters of toxic waste. Unfortunately, a spill occurs a short time later, resulting in deaths and Morgan having to leave the country. A year later, he is approached by a government agent looking for a missing supply of potentially hazardous poison, which in truth hides something even more valuable.
Danger Zone
1996
4
Tells the life story of Danish author Karen Blixen, who at the beginning of the 20th century moved to Africa to build a new life for herself. The film is based on her 1937 autobiographical novel.
Out of Africa
1985
7
A gently humorous look at otherness and xenophobia in modern day German with this tale of a black Berlin teen named Leroy who rediscovers his roots after falling for a pretty white girl and meeting her racist family.
Leroy
2007
5
An epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry. After Celie's abusive father marries her off to the equally debasing 'Mister' Albert Johnson, things go from bad to worse, leaving Celie to find companionship anywhere she can. She perseveres, holding on to her dream of one day being reunited with her sister in Africa.
The Color Purple
1985
7