desert

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Tenere – Pan African Film Festival 2020

Tenere documents the incredible real life Mad Max journey of Nigerien people crossing the Sahara on customized trucks in search of an escape from their poverty. It’s an almost unbelievable journey, and although more people try to cross the desert than the Atlantic to get to Europe, it surprisingly rarely makes the news.

Tenere itself is an observational documentary that follows Bachir on his journey from Agadez to Dirkou in search of work. Bachir is one of the most experienced members of the group, having already made the journey across the Sahara a few times in order to provide for his family. This time, instead of going to Libya, which is no longer a land of opportunity because of the raging civil war, Bachir plans to stop and find work in Dirkou, 584km away from Agadez in the northeastern corner of Niger. However, what might be a days journey by car on normal roads is a perilous 5 day trek across the sands of the Sahara in blistering 45 degree heat (that’s over 110 degrees Fahrenheit). In this part of the world, roads don’t exist, just a lot of sand.

Tenere takes off cinematically when the journey leaves Agadez. There’s a point, roughly 10-15 minutes into their journey that the craziness of it hit me. Agadez is the 5th largest city in Niger, albeit a small one when compared to cities around the world with just over 100,000 inhabitants. It doesn’t look like a city teeming with opportunity when we see it on camera. The dust roads, mud houses, and lack of greenery indicate that human life here isn’t sustainable. However, compared to the desert the migrants travel through, Agadez is an oasis of life. After 10-15 minutes of traveling through the desert, the director starts using drone shots to shoot the truck loaded with goats, people, wares, and water, allowing us to see just how perilous the journey is. We can see that their truck is the only sign of life for miles, an island in a landscape that is purely sand and hot air. They’re truck is the desert equivalent of the Senegalese pirogues aimed towards Europe, completely isolated and just a few punctures away from certain death.

You might be wondering: “well, these people were never going to die because the filmmaker and his crew were there just in case something went wrong”. However, you might not know that this film was all shot by one Turkish man, Hasan Söylemez, with just a few cameras and a convoy of hired soldiers to protect them from desert bandits. There’s not much a camera and soldiers can do to help if your car breaks down when you’re two days drive from civilization and surrounded by sand and a 45 degree heat. It’s exactly at the halfway point of their journey that one man emerges inexplicably from the desert. He has just walked 17km to find help because his truck has broken down whilst carrying 20-25 migrants on its back. They’re all stuck by the car with their water supplies running out. If he didn’t find anyone willing to help, this truck load of people would succumb to the desert, like the many other people buried under car tire tombstones. It’s an unforgiving journey, and death always feels precariously close because of a lack of visible support. There are no signs of backup help, because there isn’t any.

Tenere is almost unbelievable. These guys and their custom stacked truck would fit perfectly into an apocalyptic Mad Max film. But the handheld camera and drone shots make it almost feel like we’re there with them, minus the heat and glaring sun. It’s a brilliant observational documentary that exposes another migration route that rarely makes the news. I watched this film whilst I was halfway through reading ‘The Devil’s Highway’, an account of the Yuma 14 who died crossing the Arizona desert, which made this film even more pertinent. If you’re sitting comfortably in your home in Europe or the U.S. thinking that you deserved the luck to be born there, watch this film and see exactly how people are risking their lives to try and reverse their own fortunes.

Head to our Pan African Film Festival Hub for more reviews from PAFF 2020.

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Mimosas (Morocco) – Travel Through the Desert, Mountains, and Time

Mimosas Film Difficulty Ranking: 4

Mimosas is a film of epic journeys. There’s Ahmed and Said who are attempting to guide a Sheikh and his caravan across the Moroccan mountains. Secondly there’s the magical journey of Shakib who travels time to guide Ahmed to a more honourable life. Check out a spoiler free trailer below (I’ve deliberately cut the length).

Why Watch Mimosas?
  • If you’re thinking of going to Morocco but aren’t sure if the scenery is beautiful enough (you’re wrong)
  • To go on an epic journey through the mountains reminiscent of Lawrence of Arabia or Lord of the Rings and an awesome scene with taxis riding across a desert like Mad Max
  • It won Critic’s Week at Cannes in 2016
  • Get lost in time as the past and present meet
The Breakdown

Mimosas starts with a few shots of graffiti on a wall of a castle and garden before switching to a few shots of the mountains. As you’ll see later in the film, the graffiti alludes to the modern world (the present) whilst the mountains provides the setting for the past.

After a screen wipe (a blank shot) we are introduced to Ahmed and Said, two guides helping a dying Sheikh to cross the mountains. They are all wearing traditional clothes and half of them are on horseback. These scenes of Ahmed and Said seem to be from at least hundred years ago, probably more.

In contrast, we enter another world in a Moroccan town bordering the mountains (probably the place where the graffiti from the opening scene was shot). It’s here we meet Shakib, preaching about creation fervently to a group of men. It’s present day, evident from the cars and clothing. He’s picked out by one of the head workmen to go with him for an important job: to go into the mountains, find Ahmed and keep him safe.

It’s in his journey into the mountains and meet up with Ahmed that he magically crosses from the present into the past.

Image result for mimosas film

Conclusion

Who is Shakib? And how did he seem to travel time? Is he a prophet? Mimosas depicts the epic journey of Said and Ahmed which is suddenly surpassed by the epic journey of Shakib. You’ll be actively involved in this film as you try to piece together the gaps.

 

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Daughter in Law – Alone in the Desert Waiting for A Soldier to Return

Daughter in Law

Daughter in Law Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Why Watch Daughter in Law?

  • Feel the isolation of living alone in the Turkmen desert with your father in law.
  • Grasp onto the last threads of hope with a young woman dreaming of her husband returning from war.
  • For a ritualistic transcendental film from Soviet Turkmenistan.
From: Turkmenistan, Asia
Watch: YouTube, IMDb
Next: When the Tenth Month Comes, Uski Roti, Beatriz's War
Continue reading “Daughter in Law – Alone in the Desert Waiting for A Soldier to Return”
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Zerzura – A Psychedelic Journey into the Sahara

Zerzura Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

If you’re looking for a disorientating journey into the Sahara desert inspired by Touareg folk-tales, you’ve come to the right place. Zerzura looks and feels like a budget film, so don’t expect high production quality. However, you can expect a lot of magic, dreams, visions and djinn, as one nomad goes in search of his lost brother.

From: Niger, Africa
Watch: Trailer
Next: Sleepwalking Land, Under the Shadow, Enter the Void
Continue reading “Zerzura – A Psychedelic Journey into the Sahara”