Image of movie Soleil Ô
Image of movie Soleil Ô
Image of movie Soleil Ô
Monografie: Med Hondo

Soleil Ô

Oh, Sun!
Med Hondo
Frankreich, Mauretanien 1969
98 min
V'22

Ein „Besucher“ aus Afrika sucht in Frankreich Arbeit. Vor allem aber will dieser beispielhafte Protagonist sich Klarheit verschaffen über das Verhältnis von hier und dort, über „unsere eigene Zivilisation“ und ihre Zukunft in und mit der früheren Kolonialmacht. In einer losen Erzählung mit surrealen und satirischen Einsprengseln nimmt Hondo den alltäglichen Rassismus, das Elend der migrantischen Arbeiter, aber auch die sexuellen Projektionen auf die „noirs“ in den Blick. SOLEIL Ô bringt alle Themen der frühen Arbeiten des Filmemachers in einem Schlüsselwerk des postkolonialen Kinos zusammen. (br)

Im Anschluss Diskussion mit Aboubakar Sanogo und Zahra Hondo.

SOLEIL Ô is Med Hondo’s first feature and earned him the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival in 1970, instantly securing his place as one of the giants of African and world cinema. A loosely constructed narrative of the travails of an accountant confidently arriving in Paris to pursue his dreams, the film meticulously uncovers the challenges he faces, including racial, housing and employment discrimination along with sexual objectification. For Med Hondo, filming the migrant condition entails going beyond consequences and using caustic humor and imagination to analyze causalities (which include colonialism, the structures of capitalism and the implications of neocolonialism) in order to effect change.SOLEIL Ô remains as perceptive, timely and relevant in the 21st century as it was at the time of its release five decades ago.
The film announces the arrival of a maverick director intent on challenging the very form of the medium. He makes a virtuoso use of digression and “unmotivated” non-diegetic inserts as part of his deployment and celebration of orature as an inexhaustible reservoir and resource for cinematic renewal and experimentation, “condensatory” and abstractive communicative symbolism, cinema verité and Eisensteinian montage, among other formal strategies.

Followed by a discussion with Aboubakar Sanogo and Zahra Hondo.

Restored by Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in collaboration with Med Hondo. Restoration funded by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation and The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project.

Credits
  • Robert Liensol
  • Théo Légitimus
  • Gabriel Glissand
  • Greg Germain
  • Mabousso Lô
  • Alfred Panou
  • Ambroise M'Bia
  • Akonio Dolo
  • Georges Hilarion
  • Djibrill
  • Les Black Echoes
  • Jean Edmond
  • Med Hondo
  • François Catonné
  • Jean-Claude Rahaga
  • Jean Paul Loublier
  • Yves Allard
  • Alain Contreau
  • Michèle Masnier
  • Clément Menuet
  • Georges Anderson
  • Med Hondo
Grey Films, Shango Films
Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna
DCP
Schwarzweiß
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