Rocking Poponguine

Le radeau de la Méduse

1998

Iranian Iradj Azimi directed this French historical drama re-creating events depicted in the famous 1819 painting The Raft of the Medusa by Jean Louis Andre Theodore Gericault (1791-1824). The ill-fated voyage of the frigate Medusa begins when it departs Rochefort for Senegal in 1816. After striking a sandbar off the African coast, 150 civilians row safely to shore, but Captain Chaumareys (Jean Yanne) orders 140 soldiers and sailors onto a raft (minus supplies) and has it cut loose. Only 14 survive from the 140, creating a scandal back in France. Gericault (Laurent Terzieff) later talks to three of the survivors while researching his painting. Work on this film began in 1987, but sets destroyed by Hurricane Hugo caused delays, so the film was not completed until 1990. However, it then remained undistributed until an incident in which writer-director Azimi slashed his wrists in front of French Ministry of Culture officials.

Karmen Gei

2001

Bizet's Carmen gets a modern adaptation. Seducting, provocating, sensual. All the ingredients for a perfect drama. With her charm, Karmen gets out of many situations.

The Boy with White Skin

2024

Entrusted by his father to a group of gold-miners, an albino child embodies all of their hopes.

Toubab Bi

1992

Soriba Samb is a Senegalese who has just received a much sought after internship to study filmmaking in Paris. Soriba heads to Paris, accompanied by the five-year old son of a friend who he believes to be still living in Paris. On arrival he struggles to find the boy’s father. In addition to coping with his new internship, Soriba has to also spend time tracking down the boy’s father ‘Issa’.

N'Diangane

1975

This film presents a harsh critique of the Koranic teaching through the tragic story of a small talibé, student of a beggar.

Les Princes Noirs de St. Germain-Des-Prés

1975

A satire about young African men arriving in the district of Saint Germain des Prés in Paris during the 70s.

L'afrance

2001

El Hadj is studying in Paris. He is one of the young Senegalese men who have come to Paris since the French colony became independent to get a good education so that he can serve his fatherland on his return. Unexpectedly he is suddenly confronted by a problem with his residence papers, just because he has arranged an extension too late. His pleasant life filled with good prospects has gone in one fell swoop. He faces a dilemma. He can stay illegally in France, the country where he feels at home, where he has his friends, has fallen in love and can drink water from the tap. Or he can return (without graduating) to the 3rd-world country of Senegal to use the knowledge he has acquired. It is not only a practical choice. It comes down to the question of who he is, who he thought he could be.

Another Father

2025

Thibaut, 40, raises his 7-year-old son, Gabriel, whom he adopted in Africa, alone. Faced with the crisis his son is going through, he decides to return with him to Senegal in search of the biological mother, Yawa, whom he once knew.

Atlantics

2019

Arranged to marry a rich man, young Ada is crushed when her true love goes missing at sea during a migration attempt — until a miracle reunites them.

My Soul Is a Witness

In the heart of colonial Senegal, moving to the devastating battlefields of Europe during WWII, Awa and Ibrahim are a young couple whose lives are upended by war. Their love story takes a tragic turn when Ibrahim is conscripted and later presumed dead in 1940. Driven by love and hope, Awa embarks on a perilous journey to Paris in January 1942, seeking any trace of Ibrahim. She finds refuge in the Paris city mosque, alongside Jews evading Nazi persecution. However, her quest leads her to Auschwitz, where, in a twist of fate, she miraculously finds Ibrahim alive.

Talia's Journey

2023

Talia is a 19-year-old Belgian girl, with Senegalese roots, who is visiting her country of origin for the first time. In Dakar, in his cousin's family's luxurious villa, he hopes to meet his grandmother. But she can't find her anywhere and the villa quickly becomes a "golden prison." Until she meets Malika, a mysterious bird peddler.

Black Girl

1966

Eager to find a better life abroad, a Senegalese woman becomes a mere governess to a family in southern France, suffering from discrimination and marginalization.