Rocking Poponguine

Le radeau de la Méduse

July 1998 •French

Iranian Iradj Azimi directed this French historical drama re-creating events depicted in the famous 1819 painting The Raft of the Medusa by Jean Louis Andre Theodore Gericault (1791-1824). The ill-fated voyage of the frigate Medusa begins when it departs Rochefort for Senegal in 1816. After striking a sandbar off the African coast, 150 civilians row safely to shore, but Captain Chaumareys (Jean Yanne) orders 140 soldiers and sailors onto a raft (minus supplies) and has it cut loose. Only 14 survive from the 140, creating a scandal back in France. Gericault (Laurent Terzieff) later talks to three of the survivors while researching his painting. Work on this film began in 1987, but sets destroyed by Hurricane Hugo caused delays, so the film was not completed until 1990. However, it then remained undistributed until an incident in which writer-director Azimi slashed his wrists in front of French Ministry of Culture officials.

Binta and the Great Idea

October 2004 •French

Binta, a little girl from Senegal, tells us about the everyday life in her village, the importance of education for the girls, and about her father's great idea to make the world a better place.

Io Capitano

September 2023 •Italian

Longing for a brighter future, two Senegalese teenagers embark on a journey from West Africa to Italy. However, between their dreams and reality lies a labyrinth of checkpoints, the Sahara Desert, and the vast waters of the Mediterranean.

Eugenie

December 2016 •German

Eugenie was born and raised in Senegal. But since her love was not accepted, she escaped to Germany in order to get asylum there.

Toubab Bi

January 1992 •French

Soriba Samb is a Senegalese who has just received a much sought after internship to study filmmaking in Paris. Soriba heads to Paris, accompanied by the five-year old son of a friend who he believes to be still living in Paris. On arrival he struggles to find the boy’s father. In addition to coping with his new internship, Soriba has to also spend time tracking down the boy’s father ‘Issa’.

N'Diangane

January 1975 •Wolof

This film presents a harsh critique of the Koranic teaching through the tragic story of a small talibé, student of a beggar.

Wonderful World

January 2009 •English

Ben Singer is a failed children's folk singer, a career proofreader, a less-than-extraordinary weekend dad, and perhaps the most negative man alive. Floundering in all aspects of his life, Ben's only comfort comes from regular chess games and friendly debates on game theory with his Senegalese roommate Ibou. When Ibou is suddenly struck ill, Ben's pessimistic worldview seems unequivocally confirmed. It takes an extended visit from Ibou's sister Khadi for Ben to realize that cynicism may be all a matter of perspective.

Karmen Gei

June 2001 •French

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.

L'afrance

January 2001 •French

El Hadj is studying in Paris. He is one of the young Senegalese men who have come to Paris since the French colony became independent to get a good education so that he can serve his fatherland on his return. Unexpectedly he is suddenly confronted by a problem with his residence papers, just because he has arranged an extension too late. His pleasant life filled with good prospects has gone in one fell swoop. He faces a dilemma. He can stay illegally in France, the country where he feels at home, where he has his friends, has fallen in love and can drink water from the tap. Or he can return (without graduating) to the 3rd-world country of Senegal to use the knowledge he has acquired. It is not only a practical choice. It comes down to the question of who he is, who he thought he could be.

Les Princes Noirs de St. Germain-Des-Prés

January 1975 •French

A satire about young African men arriving in the district of Saint Germain des Prés in Paris during the 70s.

James Brown Soul Brother No. 1

January 1978 •English

The James Brown Story

Angel

September 2018 •French

Thierry, a world-famous cyclist, meets Fae, a sex worker, on his holiday in Senegal, and they sense in each other the love they seek. However, Thierry's career disgrace and Fae's refusal to register with the authorities threaten their dream.

Touki Bouki

July 1973 •Wolof

Mory, a cowherd, and Anta, a university student, try to make money in order to go to Paris and leave their boring past behind.

Xala

October 1975 •Wolof

A rich businessman in Senegal is cursed with crippling erectile dysfunction upon the day of his marriage to his third wife; the only cure is brutal public humiliation.

Atlantics

October 2019 •French

Arranged to marry a rich man, young Ada is crushed when her true love goes missing at sea during a migration attempt — until a miracle reunites them.

L'Enfant à la Peau Blanche

August 2024 •Wolof

Camp de Thiaroye

September 1988 •French

A Senegalese platoon of soldiers from the French Free Army are returned from combat in France and held for a temporary time in a military encampment with barbed wire fences and guard towers in the desert. Among their numbers are Sergeant Diatta, the charismatic leader of the troop who was educated in Paris and has a French wife and child, and Pays, a Senegalese soldier left in a state of shock from the war and concentration camps and who can only speak in guttural screams and grunts.

Le Franc

August 1994 •Wolof

A penniless, fast-thinking musician buys a lottery ticket which he glues to his back door, in hopes of eventually retrieving his instrument from his exasperating landlady. —but the ticket wins...

Hyenas

September 1992 •Wolof

A now-rich woman returns to her poor desert hometown to propose a deal to the populace: her fortune, in exchange for the death of the man who years earlier abandoned her and left her with his child.

Talia's Journey

May 2023 •French

Talia is a 19-year-old Belgian girl, with Senegalese roots, who is visiting her country of origin for the first time. In Dakar, in his cousin's family's luxurious villa, he hopes to meet his grandmother. But she can't find her anywhere and the villa quickly becomes a "golden prison." Until she meets Malika, a mysterious bird peddler.