Baba's Journey
Synopsis
This is the story of a dream, everyone's childish but stirring dream of being the biggest, the most handsome, the strongest, the best. For Baba, a twenty-years-old Senegalese young man, it means becoming the king of football. In France, football can earn you a fortune ! This dream is shared by a whole continent. All young Africans dream of becoming football stars at some times. It's a powerful dream that hants Africa like a ghost that can never be banished. The dream of power and money, of TV sets, freezers and Mercedes. The dream of the Western civilisation.
Credits
Director (1)
Production and distribution (2)
- Executive Producer : Personnelle Production
- French distribution : Dimension sept
Full credits (9)
- Executive Producer : Denys Limon
- Adaptation : Christine Eymeric
- Screenwriters : Elisabeth D., Christine Eymeric
- Director of Photography : Jean-Michel Humeau
- Music Composers : Ray Lema, Xavier Eymeric
- Editor : Olivier Wlodarczyk
- Sound Recordist : Pierre Carrasco
- Production Manager : David Bensoussan
- Press Attaché (film) : François Vila
Technical details
- Type : Feature film
- Genres : Fiction
- Sub-genre : Drama
- Production language : French, African dialect
- Production country : France (100.0%)
- Original French-language productions : Unspecified
- Nationality : 100% French (France)
- Production year : 1995
- French release : 01/11/1995
- Runtime : 1 h 32 min
- Current status : Released
- Visa number : 87.169
- Visa issue date : 20/04/1995
- Approval : Yes
- Production formats : 35mm
- Color type : Color
- Aspect ratio : 1.66
- Audio format : Mono
News & awards
About
"I thought there was subject matter for a story but I was more interested in the dream than in the need for social advancement or the reality of football. I wanted to show how this unstoppable dream was built up. I wanted "Baba's Journey" to be a different kind of film, between documentary and fiction. That's why I decided to work with the inhabitants of the Guediawaye neighbourhood of Dakar (no professional actors) as the most realistic and apt way to tackle these characters. I came back to France to write "the sequel". We decided to have the story told by Baba's uncle, Sega, who comes back from the dead to stop his nephew doing the same thing he did, running after the illusion of the ball."
(Christine Eymeric)
