With a special introduction by African cinema specialist, Jean-Olivier Tchouaffe, PhD.

RETURN OF AN ADVENTURER (Niger, 1966, 16mm, 34 min)
A businessman returns from travels abroad with gifts of cowboy gear for all of his friends. Once they don the threads of outlaws, the men begin to behave with reckless abandon.

Preceded by hand-drawn political cartoon BON VOYAGE SIM (Niger, 1966, 16mm, 5 min), and the beautiful stop-motion sporting story pitting lizards against frogs, KOKOA (Niger, 1973, 35mm, 25 min)

About this series:

Moustapha Alassane was a pioneering filmmaker in Niger, making some of that country’s first short and feature films. His artistic approaches combined painting, animation, ethnography and the avant garde to develop political and social critiques of post-independence Niger. His artistic innovation heavily impacted his West African cinema contemporaries, inspiring other films such as Djibril Diop Mambéty’s TOUKI BOUKI. Our series includes Alassane’s moral tale of faux African cowboys, RETURN OF AN ADVENTURER (1966), the mystical parable based on a traditional folktale TOULA (1973) and several of animated short films to precede these live-action works. Programs are in French and Hausa with English subtitles.

Special thanks to: Amélie Garin-Davet