The film “Le taxi, le cinema et moi” by Burkinabe director Salam Zampaligré screened this Wednesday evening at the cinema la renaissance in Rabat tells the story of a taxi driver, who became a famous director out of passion which will then experience a less than rosy situation.
The film “le taxi, le cinema et moi” is the story of an iconoclastic character, Drissa Touré, who has had a very atypical career in her life. After small jobs in Bobo-Dioulasso (economic capital of Burkina Faso), he alternately became a taxi driver in Ouagadougou and finally a self-taught filmmaker thanks to his meeting with the filmmaker Sembene Ousmane.
As a filmmaker, he was able to establish himself as a recognized director in his country but also internationally. The film tells how and why this filmmaker who made successful films, from 1981 selected in the biggest festivals in the world such as Cannes, Locarno, Milan, Amiens, Rotterdam, Zurich, New York, then sank in the years 2000 without ever being able to recover.
The film strongly touched the moviegoers present at the screening but also the filmmakers who did not hesitate to question the status of their profession.
For Burkinabe director Salam Zampaligré, it’s a feeling of pride and emotion.
“I am very satisfied with the screening, the public reacted at the end with relevant questions. Some were very touched. That’s also cinema, being able to touch souls. This evening, I come out of this screening really very moved, ”he said.
Mr. Zampaligré explained the conditions under which the film was shot. “At the start of the project, we had no francs. It was just the heart,” he stressed.
He explained that he went to Bobo-Dioulasso, staying for a while with Drissa Touré (the main character). This allowed him to write the screenplay that helped raise the funds. “The project took four and a half years. That’s also the documentary, you have to be very patient. It was a very nice experience,” he said.
For Salam Zampaligré, the 1st edition of Roots-Rabat, which allows him to screen his film again, is a framework that absolutely had to be created because it “is a springboard for the dissemination of cinematographic works from the continent”.
“It’s a pan-African festival and I encourage this kind of initiative which will allow authors and managers of cinematographic centers to discuss this common passion which is cinema. Roots Rabat is a very good initiative,” he said.
The film “Le taxi, le cinema et moi” had its world premiere at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in the Netherlands. It was then seen at the Luxor African Film Festival in Egypt where it won the Documentary Film Grand Prize and at the Pan-African Film and Television Festival in Ouagadougou (FESPACO).
As a perspective, the film will also be screened next May at the International Festival of African Cinema in Khouribga, Morocco.
“The path is traced, we will cross our fingers so that this film can be seen everywhere because the message is important,” finished director Salam Zampaligré.
Among the moviegoers this Wednesday evening was the cultural attaché at the Embassy of Burkina Faso in Morocco, Mrs. Kambiré/Somé Elodie.
According to her, the film on Drissa Touré, “is a call to everyone to rethink our history, to see how we must save our dying culture”.
“Drissa’s smile that we saw at the end must give us hope to think that all is not lost and that we can rise up for this culture because it is only through it that we we can move forward,” she said. She stressed that the film must galvanize Africans to do better, to support and encourage each other.
Source: Burkina Information Agency