African Film Archive

Baara

1978 — Souleymane Cisse — Mali

feature · drama · manifesto

A major early Malian feature following Souleymane Cisse's own Den Muso, Baara follows a factory worker in Bamako and the young manager who begins to see the mistreatment built into the plant's post-colonial capitalist structure.

Fun fact: Baara means work in Bambara, a title that doubles as the film's central subject and its political argument.

Notes: Runtime 93 minutes. Corrected 2026-07-29: Cannes's own materials credit Den Muso (1975), also by Cisse, as Mali's first feature-length fiction film, with Baara following it; removed the "first feature film produced in Mali" claim from the description.

Verification: verified · Sources: [1] [2] [3]

Poster source: Wikipedia