Karmen Gei
California Newsreel • 1h 22m
Directed by Joseph Gai Ramaka • Drama • With Djeïnaba Diop Gaï, Magaye Niang, Stephanie Biddle • 2001 • 82 minutes
Director Joseph Gaï Ramaka writes: "Carmen is a myth but what does Carmen represent today? Where do Carmen's love and freedom stand at the onset of the 21st Century? Therein lies my film's intent, a black Carmen, plunged in the magical and chaotic urbanity of an African city." Karmen Geï is the first African Carmen and, arguably, the first African filmed "musical." Accordingly, Gaï Ramaka has completely replaced Bizet's score and the usual staging with indigenous Senegalese music and choreography. Karmen Geï may convince viewers that this African ambience is what the Carmen legend, perhaps leading back through Andalusia to its African roots, has been waiting for all these years.
“The effect is perhaps most readily comparable to Black Orpheus.” —Variety
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