Soumsoum, the Night of the Stars
In this enchanting film, a teenager who experiences visions befriends a woman ostracised by her village in Chad.
The work of the Chadian master Mahamat-Saleh Haroun is known for its enchanting visionary power, capturing the slow intensity of existence, the luminous light and colour of Africa, and the radiant revelation of faces. Soumsoum is a new opening: a coming-of-age story of a young woman. 17-year-old Kellou is an outsider in her own village. She is in possession of an exceptional talent: she can see into the past and the future. With her boyfriend Baba, Kellou swims in mountain ponds and goes on moonlight walks, where the stars speak to her in the voices of the dead.
Adulthood means the end of freedom because of the tradition of arranged marriage. Kellou is haunted by a secret: “I don’t know who I am.” Aya, Kellou’s grown-up friend and confidant, tells her what “soumsoum” is: a nocturnal sensual dance in which men and women join under masks, and a child born nine months later does not know its father. Kellou is one of them. While searching for a burial place for Aya, Kellou discovers the 7,000-year-old rock paintings of the Ennedi Plateau.
The soundtrack consists of the authentic music of the Tibesti Mountains. The cinematographer Mathieu Giombini captures the ancient, rugged rock formations of the Sahara in glorious scope. The vision is physical and metaphysical.
Antti Alanen
Screenings
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Cinema OrionSun 20.9. at 12.00–13.41101 min, 1/3
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Maxim 1Thu 24.9. at 20.15–21.56101 min, 2/3
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Kino Engel 1Sat 26.9. at 16.45–18.26101 min, 3/3