Événement

FILMS BY KHADY SYLLA -- Celebrating Women's History Month

CELEBRATING WOMEN'S MONTH 2016:
Friday, March 25th @ 6:30PM

Films by Khady Sylla, A Senegalese Filmmaker:
Silent Monologue + Colobane Express

Khady Sylla (March 27, 1963 - October 8, 2013) was a Senegalese writer of two novels, short work, and film. Born in Dakar, she studied at the Ecole Normale Superieure where she became interested in a literary career. She later became one of a small number of African women film makers.

COLOBANE EXPRESS + THE SILENT MONOLOGUE

COLOBANE EXPRESS
Public vans provide the traditional and sole means of city transportation in Dakar, Senegal. In a frenzy of activity, from the outskirts to downtown, people from all walks of life as well as fruits, vegetables, chickens, etc. are transported daily in these public vans. Colobane Express opens a window on a slice of life in the busy urban metropolis where drivers and their trainees are always on the go, managing relationships, incidents and conflicts, dealing with the competition and providing an invaluable service to demanding yet loving customers.

(Directed by Khady Sylla, 1999, Senegal/France, Docu-Drama, 52 min, Wolof w/English subt.)

THE SILENT MONOLOGUE (Le Monologue de la Muette)
In a voice-over, we hear the thoughts of Amy, a girl from a rural region of Senegal. A domestic for a well-to-do family in Dakar, Amy complains about her employer--who constantly criticizes her--and dreams of one day opening her own eatery.

In Dakar, some 150,000 young women work as housekeepers for families whose daughters can go to school. To this, Amy wonders, "Why does the emancipation of some result in the servitude of others?"

Co-directed with Charlie Van Damme, The Silent Monologue is a 45 minute visual and poetic analysis of the life of maids in Senegal reminiscent of Ousmane Sembene's classic Black Girl.

With a combination of documentary and theatrical mise en scene, the authors give Amy a voice that is the voice of a woman in one of the lowest echelons of society, however capable of a lucid analysis of her human conditions and that of her peers.

(Directed by Khady Sylla and Charlie Van Damme, 2008, Senegal/Belgium, Docu-Drama, 48 min, French/Wolof w/English subt.)