Criterion Press Release: Touki Bouki (1973) (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

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With a stunning mix of the surreal and the naturalistic, Djibril Diop Mambéty paints a fractured portrait of the disenchantment of postindependence Senegal in the early 1970s. In this picaresque fantasy-drama, the disaffected young lovers Anta and Mory, fed up with Dakar, long to escape to the glamour and comforts they imagine France has to offer, but their plan is confounded by obstacles both practical and mystical. Alternately manic and meditative, Touki bouki has an avant-garde sensibility characterized by vivid imagery, bleak humor, unconventional editing, and jagged soundscapes, and it demonstrates Mambéty’s commitment to telling African stories in new ways.

Touki Bouki was restored in 2008 by the Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and the family of Djibril Diop Mambéty. Restoration funded by Armani, Cartier, Qatar Airways, and Qatar Museum Authority.
FILM INFO

• Djibril Diop Mambéty
• Senegal
• 1973
• 89 minutes
• Color
• 1.37:1
• Wolof
• Spine #685

SPECIAL FEATURES

• 2K digital transfer, restored by the Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in association with The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and the family of director Djibril Diop Mambéty, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Introduction from 2013 by The Film Foundation’s founder and chair, Martin Scorsese
• Interview from 2013 with filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako
• Interview program from 2012 featuring musician Wasis Diop and filmmaker Mati Diop, Mambéty’s brother and niece, respectively
• Contras’ City, a 1968 short film by Mambéty, in a new 4K restoration by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and the Cineteca di Bologna
• PLUS: An essay by film programmer and critic Ashley Clark
  
  New cover by Slang Inc
  
  March 9, 2021

 

[Ronald Epstein]

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[Martin_Teller]

Very thrilled to finally be able to buy this without having to purchase the entire WCF set!