Heremakono
Director: Adberrahmane Sissako
Country: Mauritania
Year: 2002
Runtime: 95 minutes
Language: French and Hassanya with English subtitles
Awards: Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema - Best Film, Cannes Film Festival - France Culture Award/FIPRESCI Award, Gijón International Film Festival - Special Jury Award, Namur International Festival of French Speaking Film -Youth Jury/Emile Cantillon Award, Ouagadougou Panafrican Film and Television Festival - Grand Prize
Nouadhibou is a small seaside village on the Mauritanian coast. It's a transit spot. People go there to earn money before taking off for somewhere else. Amid its neat white-washed buildings and windswept shores, we see lives intertwine while waiting for a hypothetical happiness. Themes of exile, travel, home and displacement are illustrated as 17-year-old Abdallah visits his mother before immigrating to Europe. Unable to speak the local language, the melancholic boy finds himself a stranger in his own country. He takes tea with a bevy of local beauties, but cannot answer their questions. Although his mother tries to interest him in local customs, he shies away from festive gatherings. Her gift of colorful homemade clothing interests him less than the latest European fashions. But elsewhere in the village, hope lies in the sharing of knowledge and strength of tradition. Poetic and poignant, WAITING FOR HAPPINESS is one of the most visually striking films of the year. (Synopsis by the Palm Springs International Film Festival)
Principal Cast: Khatra Ould Abdel Kader, Maata Ould Mohamed Abeid, Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Mohamed, Nana Diakité
Writer: Abderrahmane Sissako
Producer: Guillaume de Seille
Cinematographer: Jacques Besse
Film Editor: Nadia Ben Rachid