Lili et le baobab
France,
2005, 90 min
Shown in 2006
CREDITS
- dir
-
Chantal Richard
- prod
-
Blanche Guichou
- scr
-
Chantal Richard
- cam
-
Pierre Stoeber
- editor
-
Agnès Mouchel
- mus
-
Jean-Marc Zelwer
- cast
-
Romane Bohringer, Aminata Zaaria, Saïdou Abatcha, François Delaive, Mamadou Ly
- source
-
Agat Films and Cie, 52, rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud, 75011 Paris, France. FAX: +33-1-43-57-00-22. EMAIL: julie@agatfilms.com.
- premiere
-
North American Premiere
-
COMMENTS
Chantal Richard in attendance.
OTHER
A freelance photographer from coastal Normandy, Lili (Romane Bohringer) has been hired to document new infrastructures in her town’s sister community in Senegal. The entire village turns out to welcome her, their affection immediate and genuine. Lili is encouraged to make herself at home, but as an unmarried, childless woman of 33 she is a curiosity. As a stranger, she is most at ease in her role as photographer. She focuses her camera on the villagers and their profoundly communal existence, and her photography becomes a means of communication and a salve for her own isolation. Meanwhile, she forms an intuitive bond with Aminata (Aminata Zaaria), an unmarried woman whose quiet independence mirrors Lili’s own. By the time Lili returns to Normandy, something has shifted within her and she looks at her life through new eyes. As she searches for a way to remain connected to her sister village, Lili is led back to her friendship with Aminata. Bohringer’s superb performance anchors a striking film in which Lili’s emotional journey is visually connected with the landscape she inhabits, be it the ochre plains of Africa or the forested seaside of Normandy. Lili’s story is a distinctly modern one, suggesting themes of economic migration, colonialism and cultural divides, but subtly, gently. This is a filmmaker who has confidence in her audience, trusting us to interpret what we will. Lucky for us, as Lili and the Baobab is a film of uncommon depth, intelligence and beauty.
—Meredith Osborne
FACTOID #25
The San Francisco International showed Lina Wertm’ller’s first film, The Lizards, in 1963. A favorite of Bay Area audiences, her features All Screwed Up and The Seduction of Mimi had their U.S. premieres at the SFIFF in 1972 and 1974.
