Abderrahmane Sissako

I presented a session on FIlm and Global Citizenship, focusing on African film, at the Pierhead Sessions in Cardiff last week. One filmmaker I discovered while preparing for the session was the wonderful Aberrahmane Sissako. I used two of his films, Bamako and Waiting for Happiness. Bamako, the most overtly political of the two, works very well but Waiting for Happiness was a revelation. You can get the impression watching Sissako's films that nothing is happening, but there's a lot going on: seemingly irrelevant details will make sense later in the film, and there's subtle humour, metaphor and symbolism. I don't want to spoil the film by giving away examples. The cinematography, by Jacques Besse (who also shot Bamako) is terrific: powerful graphic compositions, full of colour and texture, and precise deep-focus shots. Sissako gets wonderful performances out of non-professional adult and child actors, and it's a deeply humane film. Highly recommended.