Touki Bouki(1973)
dir. Djibril Diop Mambéty
Two kids in Dakar, one dream: get to Paris.
Where to watch: Subscription: Criterion Channel, HBO Max, MUBI; rent $3.99 on Amazon and Apple TV (JustWatch US, checked 2026-08-26, so verify).Letterboxd ↗
Mory, a cowherd on a motorbike with horns on the handlebars, and Anta, a university student, want to leave Dakar for Paris and will do anything to afford the boat tickets. Mambéty's debut is a loud, dreamlike film in which a young couple's escape plan keeps crashing into the new Senegal that independence left behind.
Why it’s here
The film puts the postcolonial dream on screen as an escape fantasy. What's punk is the form: collage, noise and jump cuts, from a director who refused to follow the European rules. What's pedagogical is that it asks why leaving is the only story the country offers its youth. Pairs with Xala and Black Girl (suggested 10-19), and Sembène's films. Note: experimental and not linear; includes an animal slaughter scene.
Where This Film Lives
- Topics
- colonialism
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