Info
Logline
A drama about love, self-assertion, and frustrated expectations, with intense acting and cinematography, which was the only debut film in the running for the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2023.
Banel loves Adama. Adama loves Banel. They had strong feelings for each other even as teenagers, and now they're finally married, with everyone's blessing. And yet the relationship has come under a lot of pressure. Adama, for example, does not want to become tribal chief of his small village in northern Senegal, to the annoyance of everyone else. And Banel has her own ideas about how she wants to lead her life, which rubs others the wrong way.
Meet the director
Ramata-Toulaye Sy
Ramata-Toulaye Sy is a French-Senegalese director who was born and raised in the Paris region. She studied screenwriting at La Fémis, the largest film school in France, graduating in 2015. Sy was a screenwriter on SIBEL (2018) by Guillaume Giovanetti and Çagla Zencirci and OUR LADY OF THE NILE (2019) by Atiq Rahimi, among other projects. In 2020, she shot her first short film, ASTEL, which was screened at more than 80 festivals. BANEL & ADAMA is her first feature film.