This documentary – with fantastic music – takes you into the lives of artists who deploy their talent to fight oppression.
Step for a moment into the life of an artist who deploys music to fight oppression. For we cannot imagine a life without music, but it’s the reality for inhabitants of the northern part of Mali.
Traditional music was once an integral part of culture here, but in 2012 music was banned. Radio stations were destroyed, instruments banished and Mali musicians forced to go into hiding or to flee.
Among those followed by the documentary is the band Songhoy Blues. The members flee to the town of Bamako, where they are discovered by an English ‘talent scout’. Together they tour the whole world, but what they really want is for their music to be heard throughout Mali.
Besides Songhoy Blues we also see singer Fadimata ‘Disco’ Walet Oumar. Disco is known as the ‘Nightingale of the North’, speaks all seven languages spoken in the country and lives in a refugee camp in Burkina Faso. Here she is a huge support for all musicians in exile. Undeterred by threats to her life, she continues to criticise the acts of extremists.
We see, hear and feel the musicians, despite the perilous conditions, fighting to keep their music alive. Can the banished musicians return to their beloved Timbuktu and let their instruments resound like never before?
Special Guest: Zoumana Diarra
With a live performance of Dutch-Malian guitarist and kora player Zoumana Diarra before the film. After the documentary, he will answer all your questions about the movie and Malian music.
Watch the trailer here:
About Outdoor Cinema: migration
This summer Humanity House opens its terrace for a series of open-air films: Outdoor Cinema 2016! The theme this year is migration.
We are showing films and documentaries from all corners of the world about people who take the momentous decision to leave their homeland. Leaving a dangerous place, arriving in the land of their dreams, or stranded in a place where they don’t want to be at all: how do they relate to new and unknown surroundings, and to policies often aimed at keeping them out? Come to this special summer cinema series and step into the world of the migrant.
Why this docu?
Programmer Carry: “The documentary shows what it’s like to live under the rule of Islamic extremists. That’s something we know little about in the Netherlands, preoccupied as we are by threats here. Of particular note are the conversations among people about their inner struggles. Should they hold on for a better life in Mali, fight for their country, or move elsewhere in search of a better future?”
Good to know
Director: Johana Schwartz
Length: 105 minutes
Subtitles: English subtitles
Start: the film starts at sunset
Rain: If it rains we will screen the film in our (covered!) Genèva Room
All films in the open air
28-07-16 Film: Stranded in Canton
03-08-16 Docu: The Tiniest Place
04-08-16 Film: Norteado
10-08-16 Docu: A World Not Ours
11-08-16 Film: Children of Men
17-08-16 Docu: They will have to kill us first
18-08-16 Film: Dheepan
24-08-16 Docu: Special Flight
25-08-16 Film: The Terminal