Top 200 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2023: #88. Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s Banel & Adama

Banel & Adama

A recent Red Sea Souk Award winner this past December, Banel & Adama is an under-the-radar buzz title and directorial debut by French-Senegalese filmmaker Ramata-Toulaye Sy. The France, Mali and Senegalese funded project received some CNC Coin back in August of ’21 and would have gone into production around the month of May. Her short film debut “Astel” was launched at the TIFF in ’21 and New Directors/New Films in ’22 and prior to moving behind the camera she was among the trio of writers on Guillaume Giovanetti and Çagla Zencirci’s Sibel (2019) and was among the writers Atiq Rahimi’s Our Lady of the Nile (2019). Producers on Banel & Adama include Eric Névé, Margaux Juvénal and Maud Leclair.

Gist: Young adults Banel and Adama live in a small remote village in northern Senegal. Adama is introverted and discreet while Banel is passionate and rebellious, they are destined to love each other with an eternal love. But the couple will be put to the test by the conventions of the community, because where they live, there is no place for passions, and even less for the chaos.

Release Date/Prediction: We think this will be showcased in Cannes – Critics’ Week will be circling around the project.