Mali: Opening a door to African cinema
For decades, African cinema has been poised for the kind of international breakthrough that Asian and Middle Eastern films have enjoyed. There are lots of stories to be told and there have been directors willing and able to tell them, but the financial resources available to filmmakers on other continents aren’t within easy reach of their African counterparts. So the breakthrough remains out of reach.Still, the Film Society of Lincoln Center has always kept its eyes and ears open for the best and most provocative African films. And this year’s 44th edition of the society’s New York Film Festival has found a distinctive gem with ‘Bamako‘ by Abderrahmane Sissako, a Mauritanian-born director who made his first splash at the 2002 New York festival with his haunting debut feature, ‘Waiting for Happiness.’
