MOSSANE

Mossane is a 14-year-old girl who lives in a 600-year-old village in western Senegal. Old customs determine people's fates, including hers: she is supposed to marry a rich emigrant, even though she loves a penniless student. Against her parents' wishes, she follows her heart - and resists. Since the 1970s, Safi Faye's works, who is considered the first African female filmmaker, have been shown and celebrated at all major festivals. In MOSSANE, she shows the strength of a younger generation rebelling against archaic traditions, their courage and their urge for emancipation: a key work of (not only) feminist cinema that needs to be rediscovered. (Florian Widegger)