L’enfant noir
France / Guinea,
1995, 92 min
Shown in 1996
CREDITS
- dir
-
Laurent Chevallier
- prod
-
Béatrice Korc
- scr
-
Laurent Chevallier
- cam
-
Amar Arhab
- editor
-
Ange-Marie Revel
- cast
-
Baba Camara, Madou Camara, Kouda Camara, Moussa Keita
- source
-
Rhéa Productions
-
COMMENTS
Laurent Chevallier in person.
OTHER
In 1991 Laurent Chevallier’s documentary Djembefola won a Golden Gate Award, and now comes his promising first fiction film, The African Child, a modest, affecting tale of modern life in Guinea. This updated adaptation of Camara Laye’s 1953 autobiographical novel follows the coming of age of Baba, a teenager in Guinea, as he somewhat unwillingly moves out of the comfortable confines of traditional village life into the harried and dazzling environment of the city. In Conakry, where he is to receive an education, he awkwardly lives the middle-class lifestyle of his uncle, discovers the salty taste of seawater and gradually steps into the quick pace of city life. Baba’s transformation is revealed in full to himself and to the audience when he returns to his family and friends in Kouroussa. Chevallier’s experience as a documentarian—he has 20 documentaries to his credit since 1981—was also incorporated into the work. While visiting Camara’s home village, he recruited several members of the author’s family to play major acting parts in the film, including Baba (Baba Camara). The teenager, who was not interested in acting at first, simultaneously experienced cinema and the modernity of Conakry during the making of The African Child, imbuing the film with a tangible realism and quiet authenticity.
FACTOID #68
Stanley Mosk, who later became a California state Supreme Court Justice, served as the general chairman at the 1967 Festival.
