Description:

Yeelen
(Souleymane Cissé, 1987, Mali/Burkina Faso, 35mm, 105 min.)

A landmark in African cinema, Souleymane Cissé’s film is set in the Malian empire of the 13th century and depicts the quest of a young son across the West African landscape to confront his father, a tyrannical magician. Although the film’s mythic narrative and arresting visual style lend it universal appeal, Yeelen’s use of Bambara, Fulani, and Dogon languages and its representation of power struggles across generations have been interpreted as a commentary on Malian politics of the post-colonial era.

Saharan Exchanges
One of the most distinctive and extreme environments in the world, the Sahara Desert has a fascinating cinematic history. While Western filmmakers have sought sublime spectacle among the dunes since the silent era, North African and sub-Saharan filmmakers have also used the desert as a backdrop for bold experiments in style and narrative. Programmed to complement the Block’s exhibition Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time, the diverse films in Saharan Exchanges prove that the vast expanses of the region cannot be exhausted by any single genre or perspective.