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
Up Next in Dance
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Whatever Lola Wants
Directed by Nabil Ayouch • Drama • With Laura Ramsey, Assaad Bouab • 2007 • 115 minutes
Lola (Laura Ramsey) is struggling to pursue her dream of becoming a dancer in New York, but the rejections are piling up. On top of it all, her day job as a mail carrier is beginning to look more and more lik...
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And Then We Danced (Levan Akin)
Directed by Levan Akin • Drama • With Levan Gelbakhiani, Bachi Valishvili, Ana Javakishvili • 2020 • 113 minutes
A passionate tale of love and liberation set amidst the conservative confines of modern Georgian society, AND THEN WE DANCED follows Merab, a devoted dancer who has been training for ...
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Polina
Directed by Valérie Müller & Angelin Preljocaj • Drama • With Juliette Binoche, Anastasia Shevtsova, Veronika Zhovnytska, Niels Schneider, Jer Em Ie Bel Ingard • 2017 • 108 minutes
Rigorously trained from an early age by a perfectionist instructor, Polina (played by Anastasia Shevtsova, a pr...
