Keswick Film Club

Autumn 2015 Programme

Sunday 25th October 5:00 PM

Timbuktu

Director: Abderrahmane Sissako Country: Mauritania
Cert: 12A Year: 2014 Length: 97 mins Language: French and Tuareg dialects

Programme Notes

Cinema Handout (PDF 50KB)

Audience Reaction

Score: 75% Attendance: 130

Reviews

Reviewed By Vaughan Ames

Synopsis

"One of the best films I have seen for years" - Ann Martin, Keswick Film Festival - how good can it get?!

The news is full every day of Islamic extremists winning more territory in the Middle East, but what is it like on the ground for those concerned? This film is set in the days after Timbuktu was taken over, with the local devout Muslims trying to understand what they could possibly be doing wrong and the new ruling Jihadists trying to invent laws to prove they are in control: "No more music, no soccer".

The film has won a Jury prize at Cannes and was nominated for the Palme D'Or there, and for an Oscar.

Critics

open_quote A cri de coeur against violence and intolerance, but what makes it so unusually compelling as a protest film is that it's also a richly poetic work of cinema - witty, beautiful and even sobering though it is - highly entertaining close_quote Jonathan Romney, Observer