10 Best Movies from Senegal to Watch First

10 Essential Films from Senegal

Ranked native cinema in Senegal’s own creative voice.

1. 

   1. Black Girl

   La Noire de... · 1966

   A young Senegalese woman hired by a French couple believes she is off to a glamorous life on the Riviera, only to find herself trapped as a servant, isolated and dehumanized far from home. Ousmane Sembène's landmark drama, widely considered the first feature by a Black African director.

2. 

   2. Touki Bouki

   1973

   In Dakar, a restless young cowherd and a university student dream of escaping to Paris and hatch a series of scams to fund their getaway. Djibril Diop Mambéty's dazzling, dreamlike, avant-garde landmark of African cinema.

3. 

   3. Xala

   1975

   A pompous, corrupt Senegalese businessman is struck impotent on the night of his third wedding — a curse he blames on his enemies — and his frantic, humiliating search for a cure lays bare the rot of the postcolonial elite. Ousmane Sembène's biting satire.

4. 

   4. Mandabi

   1968

   When an unemployed man in Dakar receives a money order from a nephew in Paris, the small windfall turns his life upside down as relatives, neighbors, and a maze of bureaucracy all scheme to get a piece of it. Ousmane Sembène's warm, sharp satire.

5. 

   5. Hyènes

   1992

   A fabulously wealthy old woman returns to the impoverished Senegalese town that shunned her decades ago and offers its people a fortune — in exchange for killing the man who once betrayed and abandoned her. Djibril Diop Mambéty's savage fable of greed.

6. 

   6. Kaddu Beykat

   1975

   In a drought-stricken Senegalese village, a young man cannot afford the bride price for the woman he loves, and travels to the city to earn it while the community endures hardship. A landmark drama by the first African woman to direct a commercial feature.

7. 

   7. Mossane

   1996

   A radiantly beautiful teenage girl in a Senegalese village, promised at birth to an emigrant she does not love, defies tradition for a poor student who has stolen her heart, courting the wrath of custom and fate. A lyrical, tragic drama.

8. 

   8. Today

   Aujourd'hui · 2012

   A man known to be living the last day of his life wanders through Dakar, revisiting the people and places that shaped him, in a meditative farewell to existence. Alain Gomis's poetic, contemplative drama.

9. N

   9. Nafi's Father

   Baamum Nafi · 2019

   In a small Senegalese town, two brothers — one a devout imam, the other a mayoral candidate flirting with extremism — clash bitterly over the marriage of their children, a family feud that mirrors a struggle for the town's soul. A tense, timely drama.

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    10. Banel & Adama

    Banel e Adama · 2023

    In a remote village in northern Senegal, two young lovers dream of a life apart from the community, but when the young man refuses his hereditary duty to become chief, drought and superstition turn the village against them. A ravishing, elemental drama.