Bamako | |
---|---|
Directed by | Abderrahmane Sissako |
Produced by | Archipel 33 Arte France Cinéma Chinguitty Films Louverture Films Mali Images New Yorker Films |
Starring |
Aïssa Maïga Tiécoura Traoré |
Distributed by | Artificial Eye / New Yorker Films |
Release date
|
|
Running time
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115 minutes |
Country | Mali France United States |
Language | French Bambara |
Budget | $2 million |
Box office | $1.6 million |
Bamako is a 2006 film directed by Abderrahmane Sissako, first released at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival on 21 May and in Manhattan by New Yorker Films on 14 February 2007.
The film depicts a trial taking place in Bamako, the capital of Mali, amid the daily life that is going on in the city. In the midst of that trial, two sides argue whether the World Bank and International Monetary Fund are guided by special interest of developed nations, or whether it is corruption and the individual nations' mismanagement, that is guilty of the current financial state of many poverty-stricken African countries as well as the rest of the poor undeveloped world.
Danny Glover, one of the film's executive producers, also guest-stars as an actor in a Western film (called Death in Timbuktu) that some children are watching on the television in one scene.
Actress Aïssa Maïga was nominated for the César Award for Most Promising Actress in 2007.
Bamako was the recipient of the first Film Award of the Council of Europe (FACE) given at the Istanbul International Film Festival in April 2007.
Bamako won the award for Best French-Language Film/Meilleur Film Francophone at the Prix Lumière
Bamako was also the winner of the Audience Award at the Paris Cinema in 2006.
Salon critic Andrew O'Hehir selected the film when asked to present one film within the Maryland Film Festival in 2008.
The film was received a Metacritic score of 81 out of 100 which meant the film was met with critical acclaim. The film has a score of 85% with a certified "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 54 reviews with the consensus being it is "A courtroom drama and a portrait of everyday Mali life, Bamako approaches both subjects with equal skill and success." The film received much praise for its direction by director Abderrahmane Sissako.