“Elegantly shot in his narrative hometown, Mamadou Dia’s praiseworthy first feature is engrossing, urgent cinema that is at once local and universal.” International Film Festival of Marrakech
The film recounts a dispute between an Imam and his powerful brother over their childrens’ marriage. At stake: how a small community slowly drifts towards extremism.
Filmed with warmth and even humor, the brewing feud between the two brothers-- who adhere to two competing visions of Islam-- offers an uncompromising and nuanced portrait of how families and an entire Senegalese village strain to deal with tensions that threaten to unravel an entire culture and way of life.
Baamum Nafi was selected as the Senegalese entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards. It is currently selected as the only feature-length Senegalese film in competition for the 2021 "l'étalon d'or du Yennenga" to be given at the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) in Burkina Faso this month.