SAT SEP 16, 2023 1:00 PM XALA $8.00 (member) ; $13.00 (general admission) Los Feliz 3 | New 4K Restoration courtesy of Janus Films ‘Ousmane Sembène Centennial: An American Cinematheque Retrospective’ Tickets are no longer on sale for this event.
ABOUT THE FILM: In French and Wolof with English subtitles. An adaptation of Ousmane Sembène’s own 1973 novel, XALA offers a hilarious, caustic satire of political corruption under an inept patriarchy. On the night of his wedding to a third bride, government official El Hadji Abdoukader Beye (Thierno Leye) is rendered impotent. After suspecting that one of his other wives has placed a curse (xala) on him, and after enlisting a local marabout for a cure, El Hadji must face the possibility that he deserves the infliction for his part in the embezzlement of public funds and for helping to keep Senegal in French hands. When even uglier reasons are revealed behind his loss of manhood, El Hadji endures a final ignominy from a group of disenfranchised citizens that he has conveniently overlooked. Adeptly combining elements from African folklore and popular cinema, Sembène uses XALA to indict the immoral hubris of entitled male authority figures and Senegalese sellouts. FORMAT: DCP DISTRIBUTOR: Janus Films COUNTRY: Senegal