African Film Series & Conversation with Dyana Gaye
France-Atlanta 2014 – in partnership with the 5th Annual BronzeLens Film Festival – is thrilled to welcome award-winning film director Dyana Gaye and present her first feature film in Atlanta this fall.
The BronzeLens Film Festival, dedicated to bringing national and worldwide attention to Atlanta as an epicenter of films and film production of people of color, shares France’s passion for cinema and a commitment to support diversity in the industry.
The BronzeLens Film Festival and France-Atlanta 2014 partner again for the International Film Series to bring Dyana Gaye and Moussa Touré’s films to Atlanta for the first time.
Then, following the International Film Series, France-Atlanta at the BronzeLens Film Festival will welcome award-winning director Dyana Gaye, presenting her first feature-film “Under the starry sky” (Des étoiles) before taking part in a conversation with film critic Zeba Blay.
INTERNATIONAL FILM SERIES AT THE BRONZELENS FILM FESTIVAL
THE PIROGUE, Moussa Touré (2012). 87 minutes.
WHEN: Saturday, October 25 at 11:30a.m.
SYNOPSIS: Baye Laye is the captain of a fishing pirogue. Like many of his Senegalese compatriots, he sometimes dreams of new horizons, where he can earn a better living for his family. When he is offered to lead one of the many pirogues that head towards Europe via the Canary Island, he reluctantly accepts the job, knowing full-well the dangers that lie ahead. Leading a group of 30 men who don’t all speak the same language, some of whom have never seen the sea, Baye Laye will confront many perils in order to reach the distant coasts of Europe.
OUSMANE, Dyana Gaye (2006). 15 minutes.
WHEN: Saturday, October 25 at 1:15p.m.
WHERE: Hyatt Regency Atlanta Learning Center – 265 Peachtree St NE, Atlanta, GA 30303
SYNOPSIS: Ousmane is not even seven years old, but he’s already earning his keep by begging in the center of Senegal’s capital, Dakar. He skillfully manages to get something out of every person he meets, while putting a smile on their faces every time. One day, after visiting a toy store, he decides to write Santa Claus to ask him to grant the wishes of every person who was charitable to him. But the task at hand is proving difficult, as Ousmane can’t read nor write…
SAINT-LOUIS BLUES, Dyana Gaye (2009). 48 minutes.
WHEN: Saturday, October 25 at 1:30 p.m.
WHERE: Hyatt Regency Atlanta Learning Center – 265 Peachtree St NE, Atlanta, GA 30303
SYNOPSIS: In this musical comedy full of hope, the passengers of a bush taxi going from Dakar to Saint-Louis, sing their lives. The time spent together en route allows these individuals, who don’t necessarily have anything in common, to share their lives for a while.
FEATURE FILM & TALK WITH THE DIRECTOR
UNDER THE STARRY SKY, Dyana Gaye (2013). 88 minutes.
WHEN: Saturday, October 25 at 4:30p.m.
WHERE: Georgia Pacific Auditorium – 133 Peachtree St, Atlanta, GA 30303
Over one winter, through the cities of Dakar, Torino and New York, we follow the exiled paths of several interconnected characters. For her husband’s funeral, New Yorker Mame Amy returns to Dakar with her 19-year-old son Thierno, who takes his first ever steps on African soil. Sophie, 24-years-old, leaves Dakar for Torino to join her husband Abdoulaye. He is missing. Abdoulaye has just arrived in New York with his cousin through an organisation of clandestine migrants. As the days go by, their destinies begin to echo one another, through the diversity of the cities they are crossing, somehow all united under the same starry sky.
TALK WITH THE DIRECTOR: One-on-one Conversation between Dyana Gaye and Zeba Blay
WHEN: Saturday, October 25 at 6:00p.m.
WHERE: Georgia Pacific Auditorium – 133 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA 30303
Following the screening of her feature film, Dyana Gaye will take part in a conversation with the audience, animated by film and culture critic Zeba Blay. Ms. Blay, born in Ghana, is a regular contributor to Indiewire’s Shadow and Act, the Huffington Post and the village Voice and will be interviewing the director on her work and creative process.
To attend the screening and the conversation, please visit the BronzeLens Film Festival’s website by clicking here.
ABOUT DYANA GAYE
Born in Paris in 1975, Dyana Gaye – of French and Senegalese heritage – majored in Film Studies at Paris 8 – St Denis University in 1998. In 1999 she received a Louis Lumière/Villa Médicis extra-mural grant for her script “Une femme pour “Souleymane” (A wife for Suleyman, 2000) which she directs the following year.
She directs “J’ai deux amours” (Remembering Paris) in 2004, for the project Paris la métisse. In 2006, her film “Deweneti” (Ousmane) received numerous distinctions all over the world and was nominated at the César 2008 (French Academy award).
In 2009, “Un Transport en commun” (Saint-Louis Blues) is screened at the World Premiere of the Locarno Film Festival (Switzerland).
Her Debut Feature “Des étoiles” (Under the Starry Sky) premieres in 2013 at the Toronto FilmFest (TIFF 2013, Canada) and wins critical acclaim worldwide. Ms. Gaye follows a particular thematic continuity throughout her films and focuses on the question of multiple identities. “Des étoiles” skillfully raises issues such as immigration, solitude, reality and expectations of a better life.
This France-Atlanta 2014 event is organized and made possible with the help of our partners:
