Ousmane Diagana, Mauritania, 2024
SYNOPSIS
Bamby, an 18-year-old girl, arrives in the Sahelian village of Teremissi to celebrate her wedding during the Samiya, the “season of love,” a traditional festival marking fertility and renewal after abundant rains. However, upon her arrival, she is deeply disappointed to learn that the Samiya has been canceled—the village elders are desperately waiting for rain that has not come.
Determined to revive the tradition, Bamby and her friends decide to invoke the rain through an initiatory dance. Their bold action angers Djibi and his group, young men advocating a strict religious ideology, seeking to impose their rigid beliefs on the villagers. Seeing their dance as blasphemous, Djibi and his followers violently attack the young women.
As the clash between tradition and intolerance escalates, Téné, a wise 80-year-old woman, takes Bamby and her friend Mally under her wing. With patience and wisdom, she passes down her ancestral knowledge, guiding them toward a way to restore the Samiya, a powerful symbol of life and renewal.
BIOGRAPHY
Born in Mauritania, Ousmane Diagana obtained his literary baccalaureate in Kaédi before pursuing commercial studies and filmmaking in Nouakchott. He directed his first short films within the Maison des Cinéastes, including The Color of Friendship and Cinema, My Country, and Me. He then moved on to medium-length films such as The Wound of Slavery and Black Memory, before directing his first feature film, Ganda, the Last Griot.