a film by

Abderrahmane Sissako

ARCHIPEL 33, CHINGUITTY FILMS, MALI IMAGESARTE France and LOUVERTURE FILMS

present

2006 • 1.85 • 1H58 • DOLBY SRD

www.bamako-film.com

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bamako

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Melé is a bar singer, her husband Chaka is out of work

and the couple is on the verge of breaking up…

In the courtyard of the house theyshare with other families, a trial

court has been set up.

African civil society spokesmenhave taken proceedings against the

World Bank and the IMF whomthey blame for Africa's woes…

Amidst the pleas and the testimonies, life goes on in the

courtyard. Chaka does not seem to be

concerned by this novel Africa'sdesire to fight for its rights…

SYNOPSIS

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/ How did this project come into being ?

First, this film is linked to my desireto film in my father's house, who haspassed away.

This house is located in Bamako, in thepoorer neighbourhood of Hamdallaye.

It's a plain house, made of earth. Foryears, a tap and a well have been stan-ding side by side in the courtyard. Here,water is expensive, and to save money,my father had a well dug.

This courtyard is where I grew up,with my many brothers, sisters, cou-sins, aunts, uncles, close and distantrelatives. Never had we been less thattwenty-five sleeping, eating, learning,living almost in turn.

Today, most of us have left the houseto live elsewhere - and yet the house isstill always full... New cousins, closeand distant relatives live there, go toschool or quit to work on some oddjob or other.

For me, this house is associated withthe memory of passionate discussionswith my father about Africa.

The other reason that urged me tomake this film has to do with my viewson Africa - Africa, not as the continentthat I call my own, but as a place ofinjustice which directly affects me. When

attention and it was absolutelynecessary that the sophisticated state-ments be put into perspective by compa-ring them with the lives that go on in thecourtyard.

The people who gravitate around thecourtroom believe in the trial but don'texpect anything from the verdict.When talking about the West, in orderto encourage me, one of the witnessessaid: "At least they'll know that we know".

/ In Waiting for Happiness, you sho-wed the impotence of Africa's publicauthorities and western countries'anti-immigration policies. Here, youreach a new stage with a film in theform of a parable.

I deeply believe that life and hope gobeyond the notion of justice. Speakingin a straightforward way is extremelydifficult these days and conveying my

INTERVIEW WITH ABDERRAHMANE SISSAKO

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one lives on a continent where film-making is difficult and uncommon, onefeels entitled to speak in the name ofothers: faced with the seriousness ofthe situation in Africa, I felt a kind ofurgency to bring up the hypocrisy of theNorth towards the Southern countries.

/ Without a doubt, your film adoptsthe least traditional narrative. Howdid you develop this method ?

At first, I wanted to limit the settingof the film to a trial without ever lea-ving it. Afterwards, I understood that Icould perhaps go further if I gave upthe idea of a single space, one theatri-cal setting, and that I could introducecharacters outside the trial.

/ What is striking, is precisely the lifethat goes on outside the courtroom:women are dying fabric, a mothernurses her little daughter, a couplebreaks up, another gets married...

I developed the secondary plotsbecause I wanted the lives of the peopleliving in the courtyard to echo or inter-fere with the speeches delivered at thebar. The trial debates illustrate a kind ofintelligence which monopolizes all of our

message through a parable seemed theright thing to do. I wanted the debatethat is carried out by the main charac-ters in the trial, to be regularly brokenup by other realities which sometimestake the form of parables.

It was impossible for me to imaginethis trial anywhere but within a realliving place.

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/ Is it possible to say that the trial hasa cathartic quality to it ?

The real question is this: no court oflaw exists to call into question thepower of the strongest. It wasn't somuch a question of laying the blame onwho is guilty than denouncing the factthat the predicament of hundreds ofmillions of people is the result of poli-cies that have been decided outsidetheir universe.

You find this idea in a statementgiven by Aminata Traoré, one of thewitnesses, who refuses to accept thatpoverty is the main feature of Africa:no, she says, Africa is rather a victim ofits wealth !

So, in this way, I wanted to offer ano-ther image of my continent, one diffe-rent from war and famine.

This is where an artist's creativitycomes in, not to change the world, butto make the impossible realistic, likethese proceedings against internationalfinancial institutions.

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/ How did you think up the "dialogues"of the main characters in the trial ?

It's worth knowing that I called uponjudges and professional lawyers andalso real witnesses. I worked a longtime with them. I decided what the fra-mework of the proceedings was goingto be like and then I let them put it tolife. When we were filming, I gave thema lot of freedom when testifying, accu-sing or defending.

Some of them had been chosenamong the victims of the famous"structural adjustments" of the WorldBank and the IMF: these are the peoplethat we call the "outcasts", the laid offworkers, like those former public ser-vants who found themselves out ofwork because public services had beenprivatized and sold to western multina-tionals... These "witnesses" had the fee-ling that a real trial was taking placeand so when they came to testify incourt they voiced their resentment.Here again, I didn't make anything up.

Also, a large portion of the Africanelite is a party to the West: they'venever had the courage to act in favor ofchanging things because each person isonly looking out selfishly for their owninterests.

So, I saw this western sequence as ametaphor of the World Bank's or theIMF's mission - since these missions arecarried out jointly by the Europeansand the Africans.

/ How did you go about the filmma-king ?

For me, we had to film the trial asone would a documentary: a scenecouldn't be interrupted, a witnesswouldn't have been asked to repeat asentence and we let the court presi-dent and the lawyers listen to the testi-monies and intervene as they saw fit.

/ You remind us that women play acentral role in Africa and prevent thecontinent from erupting into violence.

Yes, they are the ones who prevent usfrom being too pessimistic about thefuture of the continent... When onesees their will to fight, their strength, it'sonly normal to give them an essentialpart in the film, in the trial as well as inthe life that goes on around the cour-tyard.

/ How is the western spaghetti scenerelated to the film ?

For me, it was a case of showing thatcow-boys aren't all white and that theWest isn't solely to blame for Africa'swoes. We too have a share of blame.This is why the cow-boy who shoots the"extraneous" schoolteacher is African.

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real". I wanted to show his personalpoint of view, without sound. Theseimages represent for me the glance ofthose who don't have the means tospeak out.

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We used four video cameras and asound recordist, deliberately lettingthem be visible on the screen. BecauseI wanted everyone to get used to thistechnical device, just as one would inany trial.

On the other hand, for the scenesoutside the trial, we chose a fictionalscenario, with shooting script, reverse-angle shots, master shots... and weshot on 16 mm.

This is how it turned out that toge-ther, in the same film, we had profes-sional actors and actual lawyers,judges and witnesses, people from theneighbourhood, and members of myfamily.

/ You also introduce a character whocarries a camera.

The character of Falaï, the camera-man, makes videos both for weddingsand for the crime squad. But he says heprefers filming the dead, "they're more

CAST

MeléChaka

SarambaFalaï

Chaka's sisterJournalist

Court PresidentVictims' Attorneys

Defense Attorneys

Prosecutor

Witnesses (in order of appearance)

Special appearancesin the roles of the cow-boys

Aïssa MAÏGATiécoura TRAORÉHélène DIARRAHabib DEMBÉLÉDjénéba KONÉHamadoun KASSOGUÉ

Hamèye MAHALMADANEAïssata TALL SALLWilliam BOURDONRoland RAPPAPORTMamadou KONATÉMamadou SAVADOGOMagma Gabriel KONATÉ

Zegué BAMBAAminata TRAORÉMadou KEITAGeorges KEITAAssa BADIALLO SOUKOSamba DIAKITÉ

Danny GLOVERElia SULEIMANDramane BASSAROJean-Henri ROGERZeka LAPLAINEFerdinand BATSIMBA

Copyright photos :Emmanuel Daou B. p. 5/7/10 • Lydie Rappaport p. 10 • Gilles Viallard p. 8 © archipel 33

DP Bamako - anglais 12/05/06 12:58 Page 8

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oday's core missions of theWashington-based IMF andWorld Bank, which were crea-

ted in the wake of World War II, are toregulate the international monetarysystem and lend money to developingcountries.

As many countries had difficultyrepaying their debts, rich countriesimposed, in the early 80's, structuraladjustment policies that set the rulesof the game for millions of people.

International financial institutionofficials were granted the power toimpose on the most debt-ridden coun-tries' governments a policy supposedto balance their budgets.

Most Sub-Saharan African countriesare under structural adjustment pro-grammes these days.

These programmes based on neoli-beral principles serve rich countries'vested interests - essentially those ofthe United States and of Europe.

The reforms imposed on Southerncountries have always been the samewhile, paradoxically enough, they arefar from being implemented in Northerncountries: suppression of State subsidies(in agriculture, textiles…), dismantlementof public services and job cuts in thepublic sector (school teachers, doctors…).

In debt-ridden countries, the privati-zation of State-owned firms whichmanaged natural resources, water, elec-tricity, transport and telecommunica-tions has always been carried out in theinterest of rich countries' multinatio-nals. The contracts - signed against abackground of corruption and politicalpressure - have always benefited thesemultinationals.

At the same time, the populationsunder structural adjustment havegrown poorer and poorer, their lifeexpectancy has declined, their childmortality has risen and their literacyrate has dropped.

Most official reports indicate thatthe Very Indebted Poor Countries arepoorer today than they were twentyyears ago

However, if we take into account thetotal capital flow and wealth

transfer, African countries have morethan repaid their debts to rich coun-tries. Many of them have had to relin-quish everything they owned and canno longer secure their future develop-ment.

A long overdue debt relief seemsnow to be deceiving.

Abderrahmane Sissako

T

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CREW

Born in 1961 in Kiffa, Mauritania.After spending his childhood in Mali and returning briefly toMauritania, he went to Russia to study Cinematography at the VGIK,the Moscow Federal Institute of Cinematography, from 1983 to 1989.

1991199319951996199719982002

THE GAMEOCTOBERLE CHAMEAU ET LES BÂTONS FLOTTANTSABRIYAROSTOV-LUANDALIFE ON EARTHWAITING FOR HAPPINESS (HEREMAKONO)

ABDERRAHMANE SISSAKO

Abderrahmane SISSAKO

Philippe TOURRETJacques BESSEThomas NIKÉMAMakhète DIALLOAbdourahmane SOMÉDana FARZANEHPOURMahamadou KOUYATÉMaji-da ABDIBatoma KOUYATÉNadia BEN RACHIDChristophe WINDINGBruno TARRIÈREMaji-da ABDIThomas ALFANDARIMoctar BÂDramane TRAORÉ

Denis FREYDAbderrahmane SISSAKODanny GLOVERJoslyn BARNES

Screenplay and Direction

1st assistant directorDirector of photographyCamera operators (trial)

Sound engineerSet decorator

CostumesMake-up artist

EditorSound editorSound mixer

Line producer Mali Production manager

Production manager MaliLocation manager

Producers

Executive producers

DP Bamako - anglais 12/05/06 12:59 Page 12

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CREW

Born in 1961 in Kiffa, Mauritania.After spending his childhood in Mali and returning briefly toMauritania, he went to Russia to study Cinematography at the VGIK,the Moscow Federal Institute of Cinematography, from 1983 to 1989.

1991199319951996199719982002

THE GAMEOCTOBERLE CHAMEAU ET LES BÂTONS FLOTTANTSSABRIYAROSTOV-LUANDALIFE ON EARTHWAITING FOR HAPPINESS (HEREMAKONO)

ABDERRAHMANE SISSAKO

Abderrahmane SISSAKO

Philippe TOURRETJacques BESSEThomas NIKÉMAMakhète DIALLOAbdourahmane SOMÉDana FARZANEHPOURMahamadou KOUYATÉMaji-da ABDIBatoma KOUYATÉNadia BEN RACHIDChristophe WINDINGBruno TARRIÈREMaji-da ABDIThomas ALFANDARIMoctar BÂDramane TRAORÉ

Denis FREYDAbderrahmane SISSAKODanny GLOVERJoslyn BARNES

Screenplay and Direction

1st assistant directorDirector of photographyCamera operators (trial)

Sound engineerSet decorator

CostumesMake-up artist

EditorSound editorSound mixer

Line producer Mali Production manager

Production manager MaliLocation manager

Producers

Executive producers