Bamako (film)

Bamako
Directed byAbderrahmane Sissako
Produced byArchipel 33
Arte France Cinéma
Chinguitty Films
Louverture Films
Mali Images
New Yorker Films
Starring
Distributed byLes Films du Losange / Artificial Eye / New Yorker Films
Release dates
  • 21 May 2006 (2006-05-21) (Cannes)
  • 18 October 2006 (2006-10-18) (France)
  • 14 February 2007 (2007-02-14) (United States)
Running time
115 minutes
CountriesMali
France
United States
LanguagesFrench
Bambara
Budget$2 million
Box office$1.6 million[1]

Bamako is a 2006 film directed by Abderrahmane Sissako, first released at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival on 21 May[2] and in Manhattan by New Yorker Films on 14 February 2007.

The film depicts a trial taking place in Bamako, the capital of Mali, amid the daily life that is going on in the city. In the midst of that trial, two sides argue whether the World Bank and International Monetary Fund are guided by special interest of developed nations, or whether it is corruption and the individual nations' mismanagement, that is guilty of the current financial state of many poverty-stricken African countries as well as the rest of the poor undeveloped world.[3][4] The film even touches on European colonization and discusses how it plays a role in shaping African societies and their resulting poverty and issues.

Danny Glover, one of the film's executive producers, also guest-stars as an actor in a Western film (called Death in Timbuktu) that some children are watching on the television in one scene.[5]

Lawyers William Bourdon and Aïssata Tall Sall portrayed themselves in the film.[6]

  1. ^ "Bamako (2006) - JPBox-Office".
  2. ^ "Festival de Cannes: Bamako". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 17 December 2009.
  3. ^ BILL MEYER (17 November 2006). "Bamako: An African indictment of the World Bank". People's World.org. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  4. ^ Dave Calhoun (16 October 2006). "Bamako (PG)". TimeOutLondon. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  5. ^ DemocracyNow (16 February 2007). "Bamako: Danny Glover Produces and Stars in New Film Putting the World Bank and IMF on Trial in Africa". DemocracyNow. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  6. ^ Ba, Mehdi (15 June 2015). "Sénégal : Aïssata Tall Sall, objectif présidentielle" (in French). Jeune Afrique. Retrieved 16 November 2020.