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An Adventurer’s Homecoming + Touki-Bouki (18*)

Returning the Colonial Gaze

,Barbican Cinema 3
Touki-Bouki

A hilarious double-bill parodying the Western and Easy Rider, these two films dramatise the impact of Western culture on the African continent.

Where is home when colonialism is your inheritance? These two films feature alienated young African protagonists in thrall to Western pop culture. In An Adventurer’s Homecoming, a young Nigerien man returns from a trip to the US with suitcase full of cowboy outfits for himself and his friends, and in their new get-up, they transform into a gang of swaggering bandits. Barroom brawls and shoot-em-ups ensue.  

In Touki-Bouki, two Senegalese young lovers, Mory and Anta, wander the streets of Dakar hatching wild schemes to raise money for their escape to Paris, the city of their dreams. Mory’s motorbike has a cow’s skull pinned to the front, symbol of his roots as a herdsman. In the same way, the film itself is a fascinating hybrid: at the level of form and content, it sits astride Western youth and traditional Senegalese cultures.

Tagged with: Cinema Returning the Colonial Gaze The Art Of Change

Niger 1966 Dir Moustapha Alassane 34 min Video presentation

Senegal 1973 Dir Djibril Diop Mambety 85 min Digital presentation

Restored in 2008 by The World Cinema Foundation at Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata in association with the family of Djibril Diop Mambéty. Restoration funding provided by Armani, Cartier, Qatar Airways and Qatar Museum Authority.

The Film Foundation
World Cinema Project

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Screen Notes: Returning the Colonial Gaze

We spoke to our cinema curator Tamara Anderson to guide you through the films that make up this innovative and provocative season, Returning the Colonial Gaze and share our recommendations of what else you should be watching. 

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Barbican Cinema 3