BANEL and ADAMA

Banel (Khady Mane) and Adama (Mamadou Diallo) are two young people in a Senegalese village who appear to be very much in love: dreamily, moonily, utterly infatuated with each other. Banel writes their linked names “Banel e Adama” over and over again in a notebook like a lovestruck schoolkid. They dream of living together in an abandoned house which is at present buried by a recent sandstorm.
Peter Bradshaw – The Guardian

• The director’s vision is unequivocally beautiful. Sy paints breathtaking scenes with her camera, demonstrating a gorgeous way of seeing the world. Colors possess new levels of personality
  Lovia Gyarkye – The Hollywood reporter

• This is a promising debut for Sy, who combines an eye for arrestingly apocalyptic images – a flock of screaming birds that turns the sky black, a rolling wall of grit during a sandstorm – with skilful work with her non-professional cast.
  Wendy Ide – Screen Daily

• Love Is Challenged by Drought and Superstition in a Dreamlike Debut .
  First-time feature director Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s Cannes-competing drama is a lyrical, languid fable set in a tiny, parched village in rural Senegal.
  Variety

• Sy and Mane show that Banel is not a simperingly demure Juliet figure: she is fierce and pugnacious with a violent streak.
  Peter Bradshaw – The Guardian

• Banel & Adama is a technically striking creation that merits praise for many of its aspects. As a directorial debut it is quite an impressive beast of a film.
  Anna Miller – AwardsWatch

• Cannes Film Festival (2023) : competition
• TIFF 2023
• Munich FF
• Jerusalem FF
• Nouvelles Vagues International Film Festival

Nouvelles Vagues International Film Festival: 2 Jury Prizes 

NOMINATIONS : 

• Cannes – Palme d’Or & Golden Camera 
• Munich: CineVision Award 
• Jerusalem: Award for International Cinema: Best International Debut