CANNES, France (AP) 鈥 Most filmmakers in the Cannes Film Festival's top-rung competition lineup are well-known directors who have been around for decades. One dramatic exception this year is Ramata-Toulaye Sy, a French-Senegalese filmmaker whose first film, 鈥淏anel & Adama,鈥 landed among the 21 films competing for the Palme d'Or.
鈥淚t鈥檚 only now that I realize that being in competition means being in a competition,鈥 Sy said, laughing, in an interview shortly after 鈥淏anel & Adama鈥 premiered in Cannes. 鈥淣ow that we鈥檙e really in the middle of it, I realize there鈥檚 a lot of passion going around.鈥
Sy, 36, is the sole first-timer in Cannes' main lineup this year. She is also only the second Black female director to ever compete for the Palme, following For the Paris-raised Sy, it's not a distinction of significance.
鈥淚鈥檓 a filmmaker and I really wish we stopped being counted as women, as Black or Arab or Asian,鈥 said Sy.
In 鈥淏anel & Adama," also the only Africa-set film competing for the Palme this year, Sy crafts a radiant and languorous fable tinged with myth and tragedy.
Banel (Khady Mane) and Adama (Mamadou Diallo) are a deeply in love married couple living in a small village in northern Senegal. In their intimate romantic idyll, they wish to pull away from the local traditions. Adama is set to become village chief but is uninterested in doing so. Banel dreams of living outside the village, in a home buried under a mountain of sand.
While Banel and Adama slowly work to sweep away the sand, their yearning to live on their own causes angst in the village, especially when a drought arrives that some take as a curse for their independence. Though often opaque, the film stays largely with the psychology of Banel, whose single-mindedness grows increasingly dark.
鈥淚 was quite reluctant at the start to acknowledge that Banel is me,鈥 says Sy. 鈥淣ow I have to confess that it鈥檚 definitely me. I see myself, my questions, my struggle in her journey. How to do become an individual inside a community is really my own question.鈥
Sy began writing 鈥淏anel & Adama鈥 in 2014 as a student at La F茅mis, the French film school. Sy, the daughter of Senegalese immigrants, says she was first drawn to literature. Novels like Toni Morrison's 鈥淪ula鈥 and Elena Frenate's 鈥淢y Brilliant Friend鈥 inspired 鈥淏anel & Adama.鈥
鈥淭he love story was a pretext for to deal with myth,鈥 she says. 鈥淚 wanted to have this kind of mythological female character that you find in Greek tragedy."
Sy co-wrote Atiq Rahimi鈥檚 鈥淥ur Lady of the Nile" and 脟agla Zencirci and Guillaume Giovanetti鈥檚 鈥淪ibel鈥 鈥 both of which played at international festivals. Her first short film, 鈥淎stel," was well-received.
But little prepared her for the stresses of shooting in rural Senegal. Along with heat, sandstorms and bouts of illness among the crew, Sy struggled to find her Banel. In the end, she found Mane while walking around.
鈥淲e had all the cast except for her. We started five months before shooting and one month before shooting we still didn鈥檛 have her. One day I was walking down the street and my eyes locked on this girl,鈥 says Sy. 鈥淚t was the way that she looked at me. Her gaze had something a bit wise and a bit crazy.鈥
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