Mauritania, 100 minutes

Dir: Abderrahmane Sissako (Life on Earth)

Official Selection — New York, Toronto and Cannes Film Festivals
Winner — FIPRESCI PRIZE, Un Certain Regard, Cannes Film Festival

Master filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako unveils a new vision of Africa with this luxuriously rhythmic, carefully observed film. Nouadhibou is a small seaside village on the Mauritanian coast, and amongst its white-washed buildings and melodic songs passed down through generations, lives intertwine while waiting for a hypothetical happiness.

After a long absence, the seventeen-year-old Abdallah visits his mother before emigrating to Europe. Unable to speak the local language, the melancholic young man finds himself a stranger in his own country. Traditional, colorful fabrics interest him much less than the latest European trends, and though he shies away from village customs and festivities, Abdallah watches this touching, foreign universe unfold around him with sheer sensitivity.

This film features an introduction with writer/director, Abderrahmane Sissako, hosted by Peter Scarlet, and a 9-minuate post show wrap up where Sissako discusses Waiting for Happiness and his latest film, Bamako.

The Court was selected for this year's New York Film Festival and was screened at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

“Waiting for Happiness is Mr. Sissako’s nod to a small hamlet’s ability — no, its need — to greet encroaching advancement with a shrug…We can only guess that Mr. Sissako is also using the movie as a way of dealing with the possibility that he’s being hailed as Africa’s next big thing. It’s a momentous responsibility to shoulder, and like Abdallah, the director is still in the process of establishing who he is.” — Elvis Mitchell, The New York Times

To learn more, or to purchase this program, visit New Yorker Films. 

About Cinemondo
This film is part of Link TV’s world cinema series Cinemondo, premiering entertaining and award-winning foreign films from some of the world’s most talented directors.