Dolce Vita Africana
Director Cosima Spender
Countries France, United Kingdom
Duration 59 min
Synopsis
Beyond being a portrait of Malick Sidibé, the famous photographer from Mali, this film is a journey inspired by his photographs themselves, a journey through the history of a fascinating but rarely explored country. Malick’s snapshots from the late 50s through the 70s capture the carefree spirit of a youth asserting their freedom from tradition and colonialism in the early days of Malian independence. As the young Bamakois were copying rock'n’roll stars of the black diaspora like James Brown, Malick was following them, absorbing their aesthetic and immortalizing them the way they wanted to see themselves.
Beyond being a portrait of Malick Sidibé, the famous photographer from Mali, this film is a journey inspired by his photographs themselves, a journey through the history of a fascinating but rarely explored country. Malick’s snapshots from the late 50s through the 70s capture the carefree spirit of a youth asserting their freedom from tradition and colonialism in the early days of Malian independence. As the young Bamakois were copying rock'n’roll stars of the black diaspora like James Brown, Malick was following them, absorbing their aesthetic and immortalizing them the way they wanted to see themselves.