Senegalese director Mansour Sora Wade in Beijing

The Senegalese director, Mansour Sora Wade, was invited from March 22 to March 27 by the Francophonie Film Festival to present his film "The Price of forgiveness" to the Chinese audience.

"The Price of forgiveness" (2001) tells the story of a love triangle between Yatma, Mbanik and Maxoye who are living in a small fishermen village. Their passion will lead Yatma to the killing of his friend Mbanick.The murderer will then marry Maxoye and will have to live his entire life breading the child of his dead friend. This story, an adaptation of a popular Senegalese novel, depicts the tradition of African culture through a world of colors and music. The African culture, yet unknown in China, was very much appreciated by the public .      

The director also performed a conference about African and Arab cinema with Férid Boughedir, Tunisian director also invited by the Francophonie Film Festival, and Zhang Xianmin, professor at the Beijing Film Festival. The discussion was very interesting and delt with the difficulties of African directors to produce films and have access to their own market.

Mansour Sora Wade also conducted a master class in front of 150 cinema students of Beijing Normal University on Wednesday, March 24, to explain the meaning of his movie as well as Senegalese rituals and traditional culture. The students were deeply interested and very dynamic, having tons of questions to ask Mansour, it was a great moment for everyone. Mansour answered the students for more than an hour and a half, stopping only because he was tired, the students still having many many questions.

Chinese people are growing interest in African cinema which is starting to emerge here. The festival aim of promoting francophonie culture is acheived!