And then there was light

Art director: Yves Brover-Rabinovici
Coproduction: Les Films du Triangle, Direkt Film GMBH, La Sept, RAI
Distributor: Forum Distribution

Festivals:
1989 Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica, Venezia (Grand Prix)

A jungle tribe in Senegal is ruled by a peculiar and harmonious matriarchy. The women are hunters and witches. The men wash the clothes in the river. They all live in harmony in accordance with their traditions.  They worship sunset, call the rain, until one day, the lorries of a forest company arrive and endanger their peaceful coexistence.  The single presence of a tyre can trigger the battle. In his most unusual and radical film, Iosseliani makes use of the fictional characters and conflicts to contribute a documentary look at the colonization phenomenon and criticise the consequences of modern civilization. With a cameo by the director himself, observing the end of a primitive population like a tourist on the sidelines, says it all. The director takes their communication to the limit with the spectator through gestures. In his words: “If a film needs subtitles to be understood, it is not a film”.