Feature film
Ilombé
Charles Mensah · 1978
Synopsis
After the burning of his hut, a young peasant sees in the disaster the anger of the spirits. He remains deaf to the advice of his childhood friend, a musician and poet, who urges him to rebuild or to leave the village, as he does to the affection of a woman friend and the support of the community. Haunted by the apparitions of an imaginary woman, Ilombé, he withdraws into his visions.
Context
Co-directed with Christian Gavary and co-produced by France and Gabon, the film runs an hour and a half and presents itself as a fantasy film, with Daniel Odimbossoukou in the role of the young peasant. Sources date it to 1978, sometimes to 1975. In the same years, the author co-signs two other feature films, in 1976 and 1977, both written by Joséphine Bongo, the president's wife.
Who it is for
A fantasy feature film in French, an hour and a half long, centred on a single character and his visions.
Prizes and reception
Listed among the Gabonese films still impossible to find at a retrospective of the country's cinema, from 1962 to 2012.