CFS Film Screening: Mandabi

Join Canterbury Film Society for a vibrant classic of Senegalese cinema: Mandabi (Ousmane Sembène • 1968 • 92 mins • Senegal • PG)

“Sembène specialised in narratives of folky, fable-like simplicity overlaid with wicked, politically inflamed satire, and Mandabi is a quintessential example. Middle-aged patriarch Ibrahima (Makhouredia Gueye) has two wives, seven children and no money — until his Paris-based nephew wires him a money order for 25,000 francs, mostly to be saved for the nephew's return, but with a vital few grand for Ibrahima himself. It's a good deed that yields trouble in cascading waves. Ibrahima can't collect the money without an ID card, cuing a Kafka-esque bureaucratic maze while unwelcome word of his windfall spreads among craven acquaintances… iit's cause for celebration that this tragic, hilarious, wise, impolite film has been rescued so iridescently from archival obscurity." — Film of the Week

This is a Film Society Members Only screening - but new members are warmly welcome. Go to www.canterburyfilmsociety.org.nz to see membership options (including 3-film Flexipasses for $40, as well as Half Year and Full Membership). Join and pay online, or bring along cash (eftpos not available) and sign up at the membership table before the film.

The Canterbury Film Society offers weekly screenings of top-quality films – arthouse, classic, cult, documentary, world cinema and more – on the big screen. We screen on Monday night at 7.30pm, doors open 7.00pm with drinks and home-baked food for purchase.

Let us take you further into film!