Touki Bouki - Journey of the Hyena

This Senegalese debut became a critical success in 1973 thanks to its inventive dream sequences and darkly comic tone. It's a road movie about two young people who dream of going to Paris but especially returning to Senegal afterwards, so they will be celebrated and respected by their countrymen. Working for the trip takes time and effort, so they decide to steal the money. But even this proves more difficult than they might have thought, and they don't end up getting very far. won the International Federation of Film Critics Prize at the Cannes Film Festival for its playful editing together of fantasy and neo-realism, at the time a unique combination in African cinema. Six years earlier, Med Hondo's Franco-Mauritanian bemoaned the post-colonial slavery of African immigrants in the dream city of Paris, but points the finger at its own people as well, where corrupt public servants and a lethargic new generation impede progress through their greed. At the same time, the film resists a one-sided message, for the arrogant attitude of the French is the subject of much mockery. But beyond all these comic observations, a serious problem is lurking: the attraction of Western wealth and a young generation of Africans who inevitably become frustrated because they can't attain it.