In Dakar, a young woman is hired as a housekeeper by a white family whom she follows to France.
Diouana is a young Senegalese woman living in a poor village not far from Dakar after Senegal's independence. Like many other residents, she want to find a job. So, she goes around the city looking for a position as a cleaner or nanny, but is turned down. She meets a man who points her to a place where she might possibly find what she is looking for.
After spending long days waiting under the scorching heat with other women, "Madame" approaches her and offers her a job, taking care of their children for her and her husband. Diouana is satisfied with her new job, so it's no surprise that she accepts to follow them to Antibes, France. She hopes to discover the country, but soon realizes that her boss has brought her here only to serve as an all-purpose maid, with no respite.
Cast
Mbissine Thérèse Diop (Diouana), Anne-Marie Jelinek (Madame), Robert Fontaine (Monsieur), Momar Nar Sene (The young man), Ousmane Sembene (The Teacher), Ibrahima Boy, Bernard Delbaro, Nicole Donati, Raymond Lemery, Suzanne Lemery
Awards
Prix Jean Vigo 1964 Carthage Film Festival 1966 : Golden Tanit Pyongyang Film Festival 1966 : Best Directing World Festival of Black Arts 1966 : Grand Prize
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Directing / Screenplay
Sembene Ousmane
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Assistant director
Ibrahima Barro
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Photography
Christian Lacoste
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Editing
André Gaudier
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Production companies
Filmi Domirev, Les Actualités Françaises
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Technical information
65 minutes - 1.37 - 35mm - Noir et Blanc / Couleur - Mono
