An Open Window
Essential Documentaries
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51m
Directed by Khady Sylla | 52 mins | 2005
After an unsatisfactory attempt to make a film about the numerous mentally ill people who filled the streets of Dakar back in 1994, Sylla, in her own words “fell ill and crossed to the other side, seeing what others don’t see.” Now “living the experience from the inside,” Sylla produced "An Open Window," an empathetic portrait of her friend, Aminta Ngom, suffering under the burden of unspecified emotional disorder, and also a gesture of solidarity through self-exposure by Sylla, who is remarkably forthright about her own struggles, at one point dumping a mountain of prescription drug bottles from her purse on camera. A rigorous, conscientious interrogation of the dynamics between observed and observer, and a film about madness quite unlike any other.
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A Single Word
Directed by Khady Sylla and Mariama Sylla | 63 mins | 2014
Begun by Sylla and completed by her sister, Mariama, after Khady’s death in 2013, "A Single Word" connects the essay film to the oral historical tradition of the griots—West African storytellers, musicians, and poets who act as repositori... -
Colobane Express
Directed by Khady Sylla | 52 mins | 1999
Losing ground to more modern forms of transit today, the colorfully painted “car rapide” minibuses that criss-cross the crowded streets and avenues of Dakar at breakneck speed carrying passengers and merchandise have been icons of the city since first appe... -
Finding Christa
Directed by Camille Billops and James Hatch | 55 mins | 1991
An affecting yet unsentimental portrait of motherhood, Camille Billops’s collaboration with husband James Hatch captures her reunion with the daughter she was forced to give up for adoption in 1961, combining candid interviews and archi...
