‘Lingui, the Sacred Bonds – Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’

Amina lives with her only daughter, 15-year-old Maria, on the outskirts of N’Djaména, in Chad. Her already fragile existence crumbles when she finds out Maria is pregnant. Her daughter, however, does not want to go through with the pregnancy. In a country where abortion is condemned by religion and prohibited by law, Amina feels as if she is facing a losing battle…

Born in Chad, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun moved to France, where he studied cinema and worked as a journalist. His 1999 film Bye Bye Africa won best first feature at the Venice Film Festival. His second movie, Abouna (2002), was selected by the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2006, Daratt won the Special Jury Prize in Venice, and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York held a retrospective of his work. In 2010, Un homme qui crie won the Cannes festival Grand Jury Prize. That same year, Haroun received the Robert Bresson Award in Venice, and the Humanitarian Award at the 34th São Paulo International Film Festival. In 2013, he was again in the running at Cannes with Grigris, and was awarded the UNESCO Federico Fellini Medal.