Arts Centre Vooruit, Ghent, Belgium

Touki Bouki recounts the journey of two Senegalese youths, Mori and Anta, who dream of finding riches in Europe. The pair make comic attempts to steal money in order to pay for a trip to Paris. Their escapades are combined with dream sequences in which Mory and Anta throw money from a luxurious car, and wave to cheering crowds. While the rebels are portrayed affectionately, Mambéty reveals that the Promised Land is an illusion. As Mory fantasizes about the happiness France will bring him, French visitors in a yacht offshore discuss their racist beliefs about the childishness of Africans. Mambety’s compelling story is made even more fascinating by his editing strategy: disjunctive editing, jump cuts, and calculated disparities between sound and image violate dominant patterns of representation within both Western and African cinema. Between tradition and modernity, between dream and reality, Touki Bouki is a classic in African cinema.

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