With a stunning mix of the surreal and the naturalistic, Djibril Diop Mambéty paints a vivid, fractured portrait of postindependence Senegal in the early 1970s. In this picaresque fantasy-drama, the disaffected young lovers Anta and Mory, fed up with Dakar, long to escape to the glamour and comforts they imagine France has to offer, but their plan is confounded by obstacles both practical and mystical. 

Influenced both by French New Wave cinema and the realities of African life, this classic has style to burn, with vivid imagery, bleak humor, unconventional editing and a dazzling soundtrack. "A cinematic poem made with raw, wild energy. Touki Bouki explodes one image at a time!" –Martin Scorsese

D: Djibril Diop Mambéty, Senegal, subtitled, 1973, 1h29m

Programmed as part of the Dartmouth Film Society series "Borders and Belonging"