Adama: The World of Wind

Adama is twelve and lives in a village in West Africa sheltered by the cliffs. According to the villagers, beyond the rocks lies the World of Breaths: the country of wicked spirits hungry for war. One day his elder brother Samba disappears. Adama sets out to look for him and learns what that world is: the year is 1916 and his brother is fighting in the French army on the Verdun front. What the film is about is the African soldiers who fought for France in the First World War; the units known as the Senegalese infantry took heavy losses at the front and were long left largely unspoken of. It is Simon Rouby's first feature and its technique is unusual: the characters were first made as clay sculptures, then scanned and animated on computer. That is why the faces look rough and made by hand. Eighty-five minutes.