BHM at VIFF: Lingui, The Sacred Bonds Screening

I have 9 tickets to Lingui, The Sacred Bonds which is screening at the VIFF for Black History Month at the Vancity Theatre. These films were curated by the lovely Nya Lewis, and as a thank for taking the time to support this retreat I'd love to invite you to join me.

Lingui, The Sacred Bonds (in French with English subtitles)

(Chad/France/Germany/Belgium)

CAST Achouackh Abakar Souleymane, Rihane Khalil Alio, Youssouf Djaoro, Briya Gomdigue, Hadjé Fatimé Ngoua 

SUMMARY:

When her 15-year-old daughter becomes pregnant, a single mother’s shame and conflict swiftly transform into fierce maternal determination. The pair’s harrowing quest to secure an abortion potently expands to a web of resilient women (here lingui refers to collective resistance in the face of catastrophic odds) as Haroun melds sober reality with gorgeous visual storytelling.

"Dazzling images. Ravishingly shot. A quietly forceful new film. Shooting on the vibrant, ochre-dusted streets of Chad’s capital, the filmmaker seems renewed, alive to local texture, sound and color (with) lensing as rich and saturated as overdyed linen. (The) sound design is an intricate symphony… (but) for all its surface beauty Lingui doesn’t trade in empty pictorialism… Exquisitely composed, sensitively lit closeups of the female leads linger indelibly… The blazing hues and hyperactive patterns of the women’s clothing don’t merely serve as ornamental contrast, but signify resurgent life and feeling. Even a kindly midwife’s quarters are painted in vast, electric expanses of cyan and ultramarine." Guy Lodge, Variety

Selected filmography: Bye Bye Africa (1999); Abouna (2002); Daratt (2006); A Screaming Man (2010); A Season in France (2017)

"This is one of Haroun’s richest pictorial works, and it’s a great pleasure to see his elegant, richly colored compositions in the service of a fully feminist film." Amy Taubin, Artforum

"A blistering attack on patriarchy. A bracing work. The world it shows us, etched in fully felt performances and beautifully hued compositions, feels vividly, sometimes overwhelmingly present." Justin Chang, The Los Angeles Times

"Riveting.This soft hammer of a social drama is less concerned with the cruelties of Chad’s politics than it is with how people help each other to endure them together. The entrancing space that (the film) notches between personal circumstance and elemental strife mirrors the balance Haroun strikes between his Spartan approach to narrative and newfound visual command. Surprisingly cathartic." David Ehrlich, IndieWire