According to Cannes, films restored and selected for the 2015 edition of Cannes Classics will be redistributed in theaters, on DVD, Blu-Ray or VOD some time after their screenings at the festival.
At the center of "Black Girl" is Senegalese maid, Diouana’s plight in Southern France, played out almost like a documentary, capturing the everyday mundanities of her monotonous life, and the resulting mental anguish she suffers, leading to the film’s tragic conclusion.
Underneath the deceptively simple story of a Senegalese maid (played by the lovely Mbissine Thérèse Diop), and her relationship with the white French couple she works for, reveals a film rich with symbolism and complexities that are essentially reactions to, and analysis of, the cultural legacy of colonialism – a recurrent theme you’ll find in much of Sembène’s work, as well as the untapped strength in African women.
A restored print of the film is more than welcomed, and I’m sure it’ll travel.
Critically acclaimed Franco-Greek filmmaker Costa-Gavras (a Cannes veteran who won the Palme d’Or in 1982, and the Jury Prize in 1969) will be celebrated as guest of honor at Cannes Classics this year.
Other film masters of yesteryear whose restored works will be feted in the Classics section this year include Orson Welles, Luchino Visconti, Louis Malle, and Akira Kurosawa.
