Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Timbuktu: A New Film by Abderrahmane Sissako


A Cohen Media Group Release
TIMBUKTU
Directed by Abderrahmane Sissako
Written by Abderrahmane Sissako and Kessen Tall
Starring Ibrahim Ahmed aka Pino, Toulou Kiki, Abel Jafri, Fatoumata Diawara


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Opens in New York on January 28, 2015 at Lincoln Plaza Cinema and Film Forum

**Mauritania’s official selection for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film**
**Winner: 2014 Cannes Film Festival’s Ecumenical Jury Prize**
**Winner: 2014 Cannes Film Festival’s Francois Chalais Award**
Official Selection: 2014 New York Film Festival
Official Selection: 2014 Toronto International Film Festival, Masters Section

Director Abderrahmane Sissako will be available for interviews in New York on October 1 and 2


On behalf of Cohen Media Group, you are cordially invited to attend a screening of TIMBUKTU, acclaimed director Abderrahmane Sissako’s lyrical, visually arresting drama, a multiple prize-winner at this past year’s Cannes Film Festival.  TIMBUKTU, Mauritania’s official selection for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, is scheduled to open in New York on January 28, 2015 (at Lincoln Plaza and Film Forum) with a national roll out to follow.



Not far from  the ancient Malian city of Timbuktu, now ruled by the religious fundamentalists, proud cattle herder Kidane (Ibrahim Ahmed aka Pino) lives peacefully in the dunes with his wife Satima (Toulou Kiki), his daughter Toya (Layla Walet Mohamed), and Issan (Mehdi Ag Mohamed), their twelve-year-old shepherd. In town, the people suffer, powerless, from the regime of terror imposed by the Jihadists determined to control their faith. Music, laughter, cigarettes, even soccer have been banned. The women have become shadows but resist with dignity. Every day, the new improvised courts issue tragic and absurd sentences.  Kidane and his family are being spared the chaos that prevails in Timbuktu. But their destiny changes when Kidane accidentally kills Amadou, the fisherman who slaughtered “GPS,” his beloved cow. Coming into fateful conflict with the fundamentalist rulers of the provincial capital, he has to face the new laws of the foreign occupants. Visually, Timbuktu is a series of wonders and Sissako’s becalmed and sensitive eye for beauty intensifies the absurdity and horror of the film’s quietly unfolding tragedy. 

Born in Kiffa, Mauritania, director/writer Abderrahmane Sissako’s family emigrated to Mali when he was a child.  After returning to his mother’s homeland of Mauritania at 19, Mr. Sissako left for Moscow in the early 1980s to study cinema at the prestigious film academy VGIK.  He served on the juries of the Berlin and Cannes Film festivals, and was the jury president at the entrance examination of the famed French film school La Femis. His previous films include the acclaimed Life on Earth, Waiting for Happiness, and Bamako.

 “… a mesmerizing mix of mood and tone" — Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

“One of the great portraits of what happens when Islamic fundamentalists take over a region. What makes it so good is that it isn’t the usual cavalcade of screaming, gun-happy terrorists, but a quiet, wise, sometimes funny depiction of what happens to a community when, bit by bit, it’s taken over by a medieval vision of life.” — John Powers, Vogue

Press screening and Press conference: 
Wednesday, October 1 at 10:00 am at Walter Reade Theatre, 165 West 65th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenues
Press conference with Abderrahmane Sissako immediately following the screening
Running time: 97 minutes
France/Mauritania. In Arabic, Bambara, French, English, Songhay, and Tamasheq with English subtitles.  

To RSVP to the screening or request interviews, please email Sophie Gluck at sophie@gluckpr.com or Aimee Morris at aimee@gluckpr.com or call Sophie Gluck & Associates at (212) 595-2432. THIS INVITATION IS NON-TRANSFERABLE.

Please download photos at:
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Directed by Abderrahmane Sissako.  Written by Abderrahmane Sissako and Kessen Tall.  Cinematography by Sofiane El Fani.  Edited by Nadia Ben Rachid.  Music by Amin Bouhafa.  Starring Ibrahim Ahmed aka Pino, Toulou Kiki, Abel Jafri, Fatoumata Diawara.  A Cohen Media Group release.
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Aimee Morris
Sophie Gluck & Associates
212.595.2432
aimee@gluckpr.com


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