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A young engineer has a managing position at a factory in Bamako. He skilfully solves urgent problems and his new methods meet with the approval of the work force. But his efforts to have the workers involved in decision-making processes incur the disfavor of the owner of the company, who has him murdered without further ado. With the engineer Balla Traoré Souleymane Cissé created a symbolic figure for an entire generation of critical intellectuals who showed a great deal of commitment in trying to establish a fair society in post-colonial Africa.
Souleymane Cissé was born in Bamako, Mali in 1940 and was already an enthusiastic cinema-goer at an early age, later receiving a grant to enable him to study film in Moscow. Baara was the first film to be produced in Mali and was shown at the Forum in 1979 after winning the main prize at the Pan-African Film Festival in Ouagadougou. Cissé is one of Africa’s most renowned filmmakers; his latest film Min Ye was shown at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.
Camera: Etienne Carton de Grammont, Abdulla Sidibé
Format: 16mm/35mm, color
Running Time: 90 min.
Language: Bambara
