Soleil O

Hondo’s first film, the autobiographical Soleil O follows a group of African immigrants in Paris who become disillusioned by the racism that keeps them from opportunity and instead in a series of dead end jobs.  Shot on a less-than-shoestring budget, Soleil O is a searing commentary on France’s colonialist legacy and, stylistically, very much in keeping with other new wave movements around the world. (98 mins, DCP)

The film will be preceded with a lecture by Aboubakar Sanogo, Carleton University, at 5pm.  Mauritanian filmmaker Med Hondo is known for an uncompromising, provocative body of work that examines the legacy of European colonialism in Africa as well as demands attention to the greater African cinema mostly produced outside of western capitalist systems.  In this presentation, Sanogo examines Hondo’s films and looks ahead to the Film Foundation’s new Africa Film Heritage Project which aims to preserve films like Hondo’s along with other filmmakers across Africa. Sanogo is Assistant Professor of Film Studies at Carleton University in Ottawa.