BANEL & ADAMA Trailer (2024) Drama Movie

BANEL & ADAMA Trailer (2024) Drama MovieShow more

BANEL & ADAMA Trailer (2024) Drama Movie
© 2024 - Kino Lorber

"Back when we were kings, masters of ourselves, masters of the world, free. Today, who are we?" Kino Lorber has revealed an official US trailer for Banel & Adama, a visually magical African love story movie from French filmmaker Ramata-Toulaye Sy. This premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival in the Main Competition, and went on to play at the Toronto, London, Chicago, and Denver Film Festivals in 2023. It's now set for a US release starting in June this summer. Kino Lorber is pleased to present Banel & Adama, a haunting, visually stunning West African love story and the directorial debut of Ramata-Toulaye Sy. A young couple in Senegal must contend with the disapproval of their remote village. This stars Khady Mane as Banel and Mamadou Diallo as Adama. It received mostly positive reviews out of last year's film festivals, praising both the gorgeous cinematography and passionate performances from the two leads, which we get a glimpse of in this trailer. Glad it will be getting a proper art house theatrical run in the US soon. Take a look.

Here's the official US trailer (+ posters) for Ramata-Toulaye Sy's Banel & Adama, direct from YouTube:

Banel & Adama Poster

Banel & Adama Poster

Banel and Adama are fiercely in love. The married couple lives in a remote village in northern Senegal. For them, nothing else exists except each other. But for the rest of their tight-knit village, duty dictates that Adama accept the role of chief. The two lovers have their own plans… until something in the air changes. The rains do not come, the cattle begin to die, the men leave. The curse weighs on Adama's sense of duty, and the chasm between them drives Banel into a feverish, mystical chaos. Banel & Adama is a lush and lyrical West African dreamscape, a tragic romance that soars to the heights of longing and descends deep into the realm of myth as it sets its protagonists' perfect everlasting love on a collision course with their community's traditions. Banel & Adama is written & directed by French filmmaker Ramata-Toulaye Sy, making her feature directorial debut after a short film previously. It's produced by Margaux Juvénal, Maud Leclair-Névé, & Éric Névé. This initially premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival last year. Kino Lorber will debut Banel & Adama in select US theaters starting on June 7th, 2024 this summer. Who's intrigued?

Kino Lorber shared the official trailer for Banel & Adama, the Senegalese romantic drama film starring Khady Mane as Banel and Mamadou Diallo as Adama, young adults who fall in love and decide to live separately from their families in a remote village in northern Senegal, and find their relationship tested by pressures from the community.

The movie was selected as the Senegalese official entry for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.

Release Date
Directed by Ramata-Toulaye Sy, making her feature directorial debut, Banel & Adama world premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, and opens in theaters on June 7, 2024.

Synopsis
Banel and Adama are fiercely in love. The married couple lives in a remote village in northern Senegal. For them, nothing else exists except each other. But for the rest of their tight-knit village, duty dictates that Adama accept the role of chief. The two lovers have their own plans… until something in the air changes. The rains do not come, the cattle begin to die, the men leave. The curse weighs on Adama’s sense of duty, and the chasm between them drives Banel into a feverish, mystical chaos. Banel & Adama is a lush and lyrical West African dreamscape, a tragic romance that soars to the heights of longing and descends deep into the realm of myth as it sets its protagonists’ perfect everlasting love on a collision course with their community’s traditions.

Reviews
The Guardian review gave the film 4 of 5 stars, wrote, “Even at the very start of the film, when the sun smiles on the devoted love between Banel and her husband of one year, there are indications that she is different. She rejects traditional scarves and wears her hair defiantly uncovered; she prefers the man’s work of herding cattle alongside Adama to the women’s field work and laundry. And, as several lizards learn to their cost, there’s a violence lurking in her heart. Banel’s will is fearsome, but when a drought strikes, she finds herself facing up against the might of the natural world. Tragedy is inevitable, but the poetry of Sy’s vision is fresh and distinctive.”

Variety review called first-time feature director Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s movie a ‘Dreamlike Debut’, wrote, “Sy’s film is a curious little fable, not quite fully formed in its final stages, and occasionally so sedate and opaque, under Bachar Mar-Khalifé’s melodic, piano-forward score, that it feels like it is drowsing. But it’s a striking debut nonetheless, especially as it revolves, with graceful poetry around the inner experiences of such a curious, unknowable woman. Banel, beautifully played by Mane who, even when we don’t, seems to perfectly understand her character’s joys and miseries and her flashes of prideful feminine ego (“Look at him,” she murmurs in voiceover, “No, look at me. Aren’t I a woman?”) is the one who will, for all her protestations of devotion, inherit the film.”

Official Trailer
Watch the official trailer for Banel & Adama.

There are few characters more unsettling in cinema – or theatre, or literature for that matter – than a single-minded woman determined to shape her own destiny at any cost. It shouldn’t be so, obviously. Why can’t a woman exhibit the same drive and ruthlessness as her male counterparts? But as Anatomy of a Fall demonstrated, a strong, self-interested female character tends to be viewed by society (and by extension, the audience) as inherently suspect. In the case of Banel (a knockout performance from the mesmerising Khady Mane), the besotted wife of Adama (Mamadou Diallo), that suspicion is justified.

The Pulaar-language feature debut from French-Senegalese film-maker Ramata-Toulaye Sy, Banel & Adama has a sparse, fable-like quality and poisonous, creeping momentum. Dealing with a passionate love that tips into something darker, the story unfolds in a Senegalese rural community in which gender roles are firmly inscribed and tradition is a guiding force in the lives of the villagers.

Even at the very start of the film, when the sun smiles on the devoted love between Banel and her husband of one year, there are indications that she is different. She rejects traditional scarves and wears her hair defiantly uncovered; she prefers the man’s work of herding cattle alongside Adama to the women’s field work and laundry. And, as several lizards learn to their cost, there’s a violence lurking in her heart. Banel’s will is fearsome, but when a drought strikes, she finds herself facing up against the might of the natural world. Tragedy is inevitable, but the poetry of Sy’s vision is fresh and distinctive.
Sales banner Best Friend Forever has unveiled the teaser for Ramata Toulaye-Sy’s buzzed-about Senegalese drama “Banel & Adama,” which is the sole feature debut slated for the competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

The lushly lensed female emancipation drama, set to bow on May 20, takes place in a remote village of Northern Senegal where Banel and Adama are fiercely in love. Longing for a home of their own, they have decided to live apart from their families. When Adama refuses his blood duty as future chief and informs the village council of his intentions, the whole community is disrupted and chaos ensues.

The film was shot in Pulaar language with a cast of local non-professional actors, including Khady Mane, Mamadou Diallo, Binta Racine Sy and Moussa Sow.

Popular on Variety
Toulaye-Sy said she wanted the film to tell a tragic love story that would be relatable to everyone. The helmer, who studied at France’s prestigious film school La Femis, said she was also interested in setting the action in Senegal where her parents are from. “When I started working on the script, I felt that most contemporary African films I watched were dealing with violence, war, terrorism and poverty… and were all made with a naturalistic aesthetic,” she said.

“That’s when I realized that I had this desire to make a universal that would speak to Africans but not only. I’ve been passionate about literature since my childhood and I dreamed of a great tragedy, a tale, weaved with magic realism and poetry,” Toulaye-Sy continued. She also said she felt proud to belong to a new generation of African filmmakers who are making different kinds of movies, mixing drama and genre elements, like Mati Diop, whose Senegalese ghost movie “Atlantics” won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2019.

Toulaye-Sy previously directed the short film “Astel” which played at Toronto, New Directors/New Films and Clermont, where it won the Special Jury award, among 80 festivals to date. She also co-wrote “Our Lady of the Nil” which played at Toronto, and “Sibel” which played at Locarno and Toronto.

“Banel & Adama” was produced by Eric Névé and Maud Leclair Névé at the Paris-based company La Chauve-Souris (“The Pirogu”), Margaux Juvénal at Take Shelter. Souleymane Kébé at Astou Production is co-producing. Tandem will release the film in France.

The crew includes the editor Vincent Tricon (“Divines”), cinematographer Amine Berrada (“The Unknown Saint”) and music composer Bachar Mar-Khalifé (“My Brothers and I,” “Skies of Lebanon”).