TFV catches up with the Senegalese-French director a few months after her feature debut premiered in Cannes.
When we first talked to Ramata-Toulaye Sy over Zoom back in May (“We’ve met before, haven’t we?”, she says when our follow-up interview starts), her film Banel & Adama was still a few days away from having its world premiere in the main competition at Cannes. Six months later, we meet in person at the Geneva International Film Festival. Sy has been accompanying the movie all over the world since that triumphant first Cannes screening: to Munich, Melbourne, Toronto, Chicago. And unlike her previous spin on the festival circuit, with her short Astel in 2021, she was actually able to travel outside of France.
“It was a lot more enjoyable this time around, because I like talking to the audience.”
Any memorable reactions? “A recurring question – always from men – is why Banel is so
aggressive, because they’re not used to seeing that. They also tend to wonder why there’s no
love scene between the two leads. The reasons for that is, I wanted to depict intimacy without
getting too physical about it.”
The main reason we’re talking in Geneva is because the film has been selected to represent Senegal in the Oscar race in the International Feature category. She’s thrilled, especially since she’s in good company: during our first conversation, she was proud to be part of a new generation of African filmmakers with works premiering in Cannes, and two of them were submitted to the Oscars by their respective countries – Mohamed Kordofani (Goodbye Julia) for Sudan, and Asmae El Moudir (The Mother of All Lies) for Morocco. “And Baloji, too!”, she adds with a smile, referring to the director of Omen, which is largely set and shot in Congo but was submitted by co-producing country Belgium.
It’s an impressive overview of new African talent, although there’s still progress to be made when it
comes to international exposure, says Sy. “Cannes did an excellent job this year, and Berlin generally spotlights African films as well. But Venice, I think, had only one African movie in its official selection in 2023, and that was technically an Italian production.” She’s referring to Matteo Garrone’s award-winning Io Capitano, about the long and arduous journey of two young Senegalese boys attempting to reach Europe. Predictably, some corners of the Internet in Italy have blasted the film, which is the country’s Oscar submission, for being set abroad and largely not spoken in Italian.
“That’s silly”, says Sy. “I think it speaks to an important issue, what’s going on in Lampedusa especially with migrants coming in. And I do think it’s perfectly acceptable for filmmakers to tell whatever story they want, but I also maintain there should be more opportunities for African directors.”
Going back to Banel & Adama, we previously touched upon the fact the shoot itself was a difficult one, due to the on-location weather in particular. Was the rest of the production process smoother?
“Far from it”, she responds with a laugh. “The casting process was quite long, I started five
months before shooting because I was using non-professional actors and wanted to give them
enough time to rehearse. The hardest role to cast was Banel, and without her the film doesn’t
hold up. I eventually found Khady Mane by chance, one month before the start of filming, while walking down the street to deal with the stress.” Adding to her anxieties were the color grading and the VFX, which ended up costing more than anticipated. In fact, the film was still unfinished, albeit picture-locked, when the Cannes selection committee saw it at the end of March.
“Luckily, they liked what they saw”, says Sy, who looks back on the Croisette experience with fondness, although she’s enjoyed other festivals more. “Cannes is brutal in terms of scheduling. Time management is no longer in your hands: the screening, the interviews, the get-togethers. All planned out
rigorously.” Was there any time to watch other films? “None whatsoever, apart from Asteroid
City because it was part of the program for the Caméra d’Or nominees. I didn’t enjoy it much
— I’m not a huge Wes Anderson fan — but sharing the experience with other first-time directors
was quite special.”
