Retrospective DOK.network Africa
LETTER FROM MY VILLAGE
Senegal 1975 – Director: Safi Faye – Original with English subtitles – Length: 90 min.
The Senegalese ethnologist and filmmaker Safi Faye sends us a filmic letter from her village: “You will live with me for a moment.” We meet Faye’s extended family, peanut farmers who are suffering from the consequences of drought and monoculture. The harvests are meagre and food is getting scarce. A study of a milieu that is poetic and highly political at the same time. Barbara Off
Biography
Safi Faye
The director and actress's award-winning feature debut LETTER FROM MY VILLAGE (KADDU BEYKAT) is considered the first known film by a woman director from sub-Saharan Africa. The film was screened at the Berlinale in 1976 and won the FIPRESCI Prize. Faye passed away on 22 February 2023 in Paris.
Filmography
FAD'JAL, SN 1979, 108 min.
LA PASSANTE, 1972
MOSSANE, DE/SN 1996, 106 min. (Feature film)
Production: N.N.. Producer: Safi Faye. Distribution: Arsenal Distribution
