Kaddu Beykat

Shot in three weeks with a small team, this docufiction is the remarkable product of Senegalese director Safi Faye’s participatory collaboration with her family and residents of the village of Fad’jal—among them her grandfather, who died shortly after filming wrapped. Kaddu Beykat tells the story of Ngor, a young agricultural worker who can’t afford a wedding dowry and instead attempts to get by in Dakar. Through an expansive and patient lens, Faye also chronicles the everyday social rituals and cultural practices in a work that was banned for its open critique of the Senegalese government’s neocolonial agricultural policies. She opens the film by addressing the viewers in voiceover: “This is my village. My parents are farmers and breed livestock. You are going to spend a moment with us at home.” Faye’s stunning pioneering feature is also an invitation and act of hospitality.