[Mohamed Wedoud] More than two dozen filmmakers from Africa, Europe and Asia are in Nouakchott to attend the 2010 edition of National Film Week.
With the fifth National Film Week (SENAF) under way in Nouakchott, Mauritanian film fans are enjoying a showcase of artistic work by local and international movie directors.
SENAF, organised under the theme "Fifty years of independence, fifty years of hope", ends Monday (November 29th). Since last Tuesday, the festival has been drawing large audiences to film screenings.
Offerings included "Other Feelings" by journalist and director Lala Kaber. The film stirred some controversy for its portrayal of social repression against girls and for a suggestive scene about a sexual relationship behind closed doors.
Despite the sensitive content, the film was applauded after its screening. Lala Kaber told Magharebia that she was encouraged to "continue to raise social taboos at all costs", adding that she "has received some social pressure because of her film".
"The most important feature of this edition is that it commemorates fifty years of independence, and most of the films shown are of a national production," festival director Mohamed Ould Idoumo.
The 2010 edition of SENAF is also characterised, he said, "by a strikingly large presence of women" and a first-ever contest for documentary films.
In this year's festival, 48 out of 60 featured films are from Mauritania and there are 25 guests in attendance, including film directors from different continents.
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Cisse Mint Cheikh Ould Beide attended the launch of the festival and stressed the importance of the motion picture culture in communication between generations.
"Mauritania today is celebrating fifty years of independence with pride and joy, and with love for her sons and daughters and sees its glorious past with satisfaction, and its rising present with gratitude, and its promising future with hope," said the minister.
These sentiments can only endure if "the motion picture has a strong presence, because it is the only way of sending a message to our grandchildren."
Ahmed Ould Hamza, Mayor of Greater Nouakchott, called the cinematic arts the "bridge between generations and societies".
People from various districts of the city of Nouakchott and some inland cities crowded in to the festival's opening on Tuesday, reflecting considerable interest in film.
"I have attended previous editions… but the turnout this year is exceptional, perhaps due to the care of the filmmakers' house to introduce novelty in every edition, in addition to the growing awareness of the Mauritanians of the importance of cinema," said Dah Ould Elvadhel, a film fan in his twenties.
"I think that the striking women's attendance at the festival this year is due to the organisers' awareness of the role played by women in the cultural, economic and social life in general," he said.
At the same time, arts enthusiast Oumar Ould Ahmed noted that "most of the national films presented at the festival are characterised by audacity and social criticism". Today, he said, "cinema in Mauritania has become an important tool to challenge the customs and traditions that no longer go with the modern age."
Ould Ahmed expects that many young people will seek employment in the film industry in the coming years, "because of the insistence of the cinema in Mauritania to highlight the economic and social problems experienced by young people, and its attempt to examine the present and envision the future."
This content was commissioned for Magharebia.com.
Jusqu’au 3 décembre les œuvres originales de Moustapha Maiga, artiste peintre Montpelliérain né au Burkina Faso, accrochées aux cimaises de la MJC André Malraux traduisent les grandes scènes de la vie africaine dans un style plein de sensualité et de chaleur.
