Rising star film director Ramata-Toulaye Sy attended a Q&A event following a preview screening of her debut feature film, Banel & Adama, at the Showroom Cinema on Tuesday evening.
The French-Senegalese filmmaker visited Sheffield as part of a UK press tour, organised by distributor We Are Parable, to promote her film, which will be released nationally in cinemas on Friday 15th March.
Q&A host Asma Kabadeh described Banel & Adama, which follows the titular young couple’s relationship as religious and environmental strife impacts their insular village in rural Senegal as ‘an incredible, stunning film’.
Sy’s film competed for the Palme d’Or – the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival – in 2023, making her only the second black woman director in history to be nominated for the prestigious award.
Responding to questions from the packed cinema audience in her native French with the aid of a translator, the director commented on the political and cultural importance of the film.
She said: “I had a desire to create a black female character who was different from what you usually see, someone who was strong and decisive. It was very important to me to make a film in Senegal, because I wanted to make a universal simple story and change the narrative on how we’re used to seeing stories on immigration, war, oppression, and poverty.”
The Showroom Cinema is Sheffield’s leading independent cinema and a registered charity, which regularly hosts similar events, including annual documentary film festival Sheffield Doc/Fest.
Isobel Harrop, Programming Assistant at the Showroom Cinema, said: “We’re just really grateful to We Are Parable, the distributor, who brought Ramata over to the UK for the tour. They offered [the opportunity] to us, which is great – it’s always nice when people think of Sheffield to bring someone, [and] it feels really cool to connect us with that international filmmaking world.”
Miss Harrop also emphasised the cultural benefit of these events for Sheffield’s cinema audiences.
She said: “It’s definitely something that’s really important to us to bring talent for Q&As and discussions here, because it adds a lot more to the experience and gives people an opportunity to meet and connect with the filmmakers and artists behind the film.”
