feature · docufiction · manifesto
Safi Faye's first feature is widely recognized as the first commercially distributed feature film made by a Sub-Saharan African woman, a docufiction shot in her home village of Fad'jal that critiques colonial-era groundnut agricultural policy still shaping Senegalese farming.
Fun fact: Kaddu Beykat means the voice of the peasant in Wolof, Senegal's most widely spoken language.
Notes: Initially banned in Senegal for its criticism of national agricultural policy. Won the FIPRESCI Award in Berlin and the Georges Sadoul Prize. Not Faye's directorial debut: she had already made La Passante (1972) and Revanche (1973). Manifesto is an interpretive era label here rather than a claim about the film's own stated intent.
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Poster source: Wikipedia