'Banel & Adama' is Senegalese filmmaker Ramata-Toulaye Sy's first feature film.
Red Sea International Film Festival-backed film, Banel & Adama, won two jury prizes at the inaugural Nouvelles Vagues International Film Festival in Biarritz, France, according to a report in Arab News.
Banel & Adama is a 2023 French-Malian-Senegalese romantic drama directed by Senegalese screenwriter Ramata-Toulaye Sy.
Banel & Adama was produced by French outfits La Chauve-Souris and Take Shelter, and was co-produced by Senegal’s Astou Production, Mali’s DS Production and Arte France Cinéma. Its international sales are handled by Best Friend Forever.
Earlier this year, Ramata-Toulaye Sy made history by landing a spot in the competition for the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or award. It premiered at the 76th edition of the Cannes on May 20, 2023.
Set in a remote village in northern Senegal, the region in which her parents were born, Banel & Adama follows a young couple whose romance is put in jeopardy when the village council voices their disapproval for the pairing, sending the entire village into chaos.
Banel and Adama are fiercely in love. Longing for a home of their own, they have decided to live apart from their families and that Adama won’t accept his blood duty as future chief. When Adama informs the village council of his intention, the whole community is disrupted. Banel and Adama will learn that where they live, there is no room for passion, let alone chaos.
