“Senegal cannot be absent from a project like ‘Tirailleurs'”

Skirmishers by Mathieu Vadepied, with Omar Sy and Alassane Diong, opened the Un Certain Regard section of the 75th Cannes Film Festival. Through a father’s choice to enlist in the French forces in 1917 after his son was forcibly conscripted, the film deals with the tragic fate of those who have often been torn from their native land in East Africa. West, colonized by France, in order to go to war for “the motherland”. The projection ofSkirmishers on the Croisette echoes that ofNative by Rachid Bouchareb who left the Cannes Film Festival in 2006 with the interpretation prize for his entire cast. Thanks to the power of cinema, the memory of these heroes – abused, unknown and forgotten – lives on. Interview with Germain Coly, director of cinematography in Senegal, who discusses the importance for his country of taking part in the popularization of these stories.

Franceinfo: Senegal, via the Film and Audiovisual Industry Promotion Fund (Fopica), is a co-producer of “Tirailleurs”. How did you become associated with this film?

Germain Coly : the project came to us through Omar Sy (co-producer and headliner of Skirmishers). He traveled to Dakar to present his project two years ago. Then, the local production house Sunu Films submitted a funding request to Fopica. It must be said that Senegal cannot be absent from a project like Skirmishers given the role that our country has played in preserving this memory, the role that the Tirailleurs – we call them the Senegalese Tirailleurs – had played. We must work to preserve this memory well and to share it. Today, we are proud to have participated in the production of this beautiful story, brilliantly told by actors and a director. We have had Thiaroye Camp by Sembène Ousmane which was a great film, that Omar Sy and his director come back to this story again as if it had not been told enough really shows the interest of this living memory that must be preserved.

What is Senegal doing to preserve it?

The military cemetery of Thiaroye, where these skirmishers were buried, is well valued by the Senegalese state. We also have an army and military history museum where the stories of everything that happened are displayed. Senegal is working to promote this memory and the cinema is doing it in the best way: what we have seen gives us satisfaction and encourages directors to work on this kind of subject.

This film is a Franco-Senegalese co-production. In Cannes, you will sign a new co-production agreement with France…

We have renegotiated the co-production agreement with France, the last of which dates back to 1992. The Minister of Culture Abdoulaye Diop will be in Cannes and we are going to proceed with the signing of the new agreement which will allow professionals, not only from the two countries to work , but also to those in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) area to benefit from it.