Moolade (2004)
Moolaadé is a rousing polemic directed against the still common African practice of female circumcision. The action is set in a small African village, where four young girls facing ritual "purification" flee to the household of Collé Ardo Gallo Sy, a strong-willed woman who has managed to shield her own teenage daughter from mutilation. Collé invokes the time-honored custom of moolaadé (sanctuary) to protect the fugitives, and tension mounts as the ensuing stand-off pits Collé against village traditionalists (both male and female) and endangers the prospective marriage of her daughter to the heir-apparent to the tribal throne.
Awards
2004: Winner Cannes Film Festival ("Un Certain Regard")
Official Selections:
New York Film Festival
Toronto Film Festival
Chicago Film Festival
Telluride Film Festival
Mill Valley Film Festival
2005 : Philadelphia Liberty Bell; American Association of Film Critics - Best Foreign Film of the Year
Special Prize Marrakech Film Festival
Fespaco Ministry of Health Prize
Critical Works
Gadjigo, Samba. The making of Moolaade [video]. New York: New Yorker Films, 2004.
Akudinobi, Jude G. “Durable Dreams: Dissent, Critique, and Creativity in Faat Kiné and Moolaadé.” Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism 6 (2006): 177-94.
Clip from Moolade
