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KARMEN GEI |
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Director:
Joseph Gaï Ramaka
Screenplay: Joseph Gaï Ramaka, based on the
novel by Prosper Mérimée.
Cast:
Karmen Geï: Djeinaba Diop Gaï
Lamine Diop: Magaye Niang
Angélique: Stéphanie Biddle
Old Samba: Thierno Ndiaye Dos
Ma Penda: Djeynaba Niang
Awards:
Best Feature, Los Angeles Pan African Film Festival (2002).
Skyy Prize, Honorable mention, San Francisco International
Film Festival (2002).
Running time: 84 minutes
Year of production: Canada / France - 2001
Rating: Not rated (brief nudity)
Gauge: 35mm (color)
Language: French and Wolof
Distributor: California Newsreel
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“The
effect is perhaps most readily comparable to “Black
Orpheus”, the prototype for resetting Western romantic
mythology amidst Third World cultural carnivalia.”
Dennis Harvey | Variety |
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Carmen, Prosper
Mérimée’s novella, has been the subject
of countless film adaptations, but Karmen Geï
is the first African version. Like the novella, Karmen
Geï deals with conflict, freedom, convention, desire,
and the law. The film opens with the women’s prison on
Gorée Island. Prisoners, led by Karmen, use dance,
song and music to resist authority and the prison’s dehumanizing
conditions. In an unconventional twist on the classic story,
Karmen seduces the warden Angélique and sleeps with
her. Angélique, whose life becomes meaningless without
Karmen, realizes she will never be able to possess the free-spirited
Karmen and chooses to kill herself. Through dancing and singing,
Karmen also defies the conventional rules of society by breaking
up the wedding of Corporal Lamine. Like many other men, Lamine
falls madly in love with Karmen. Deeply jealous and unable
to have her for himself, he prefers to kill her. Traditional
drums and songs, together with a contemporary jazz score and
colorful costumes, add to the film’s mesmerizing rhythms.
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| PHOTO California
Newsreel |
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