Borom Sarret (Senegal)
Directed by Ousmane Sembène
1963, 19 min.
The festival is honored to pay tribute to Ousmane Sembène, the great director who died earlier this year. The festival began in 1991 with a film by Sembène, and over the years we have shown nearly all of his films. Two of his films that have never been shown at the festival are the films Borom Sarret and Black Girl. Borom Sarret, Sembène's first film, is a classic of neorealist filmmaking. It follows a cart driver through the streets of Dakar as he picks up fares and struggles with a system that is stacked against him. This beautiful short film immediately propelled Sembène to the forefront of world filmmaking.