The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun
Short Films and Mid-Lengths
•
44m
Directed by Djibril Diop Mambéty | 45 mins | 1999
Djibril Diop Mambéty, a towering figure in world cinema, is best known for his two features, Touki Bouki (1973) and Hyenas (1992, re-released in a new restoration by Metrograph Pictures in 2019). Yet these two extraordinary films tell only part of the story of the director’s enormous accomplishments in his too-brief life. Two of the masterpieces of the medium-length form (commonly referred to as a featurette or moyen métrage) that Mambéty completed in his final years provide us a fuller picture of the elements that define his small, but perfect, filmography—a rich social vision, sly humor, and formal ingenuity. Mambéty initially meant for these films to lead off a trilogy to be titled “Tales of Ordinary People,” but sadly lived only to complete Le Franc and The Little Girl Who Sold The Sun. It is with great pleasure that we present two major works by one of contemporary cinema’s greatest filmmakers. Metrograph Pictures releases.
Both films were restored in 2K by Waka Films in 2019 with the support of the Institut français – Cinémathèque Afrique and the CNC at Éclair Laboratories from the original negative.
Up Next in Short Films and Mid-Lengths
-
The Whirled
Directed by Ken Jacobs | 19 mins | 2007
A collection of smaller silent segments by Brooklyn-born experimental filmmaker Ken Jacobs, made between 1956 and ’63. Screening as part of a selection of five experimental shorts from the Brooklyn-born Jacobs, one of the most wildly creative and influentia... -
Towards Tenderness
Leaving January 1
Directed by Alice Diop | 40 mins | 2016
Four young men from the Parisian banlieues discourse on sex and love in this up-close and confessional, César-winning exploration of the contemporary male gaze. As in "Danton’s Death" (2011), the filmmaker Alice Diop is present in the fil... -
Valentine's Day Girl
Directed by Ryan Trecartin | 7 mins | 2001
A Valentine’s Day-obsessed girl is gagged, bound, and subjected to a crazed, tinsel-strewn celebration of Christmas—a rival holiday!—in this gleefully frenetic early short from visionary video artist Trecartin, which stars his long-time collaborator Lizz...