In the summer of 2012, a coalition of jihadist forces allied with Tuareg tribesmen overran the northern cities of Mali in West Africa, sparking global outrage. The world watched in anguish as Timbuktu, the legendary crossroads of culture deep in the interior, suffered a brutal puritan purge. Less widely chronicled was the Shariah-based prohibition on performance, song and dance, a particularly cruel restriction in a land celebrated throughout the region, and the world, for its music.
"Schwartz's documentary details how several different Malian musicians struggle to survive the privations and strains of civil war and the ban on music and performance. For Malians particularly, such a ban is as monstrously absurd and as cruel as stopping Americans from watching television or Brits from complaining in queues." - Leslie Felperin / The Guardian
We are delighted that the film's director, Johanna Schwartz, named as one of the Leading Global Figures in 2015 by Foreign Policy, will be joining us for a Q&A session after the screening.