Mali Blues (film)
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| Mali Blues | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Lutz Gregor |
| Starring | |
Release date |
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Running time | 92 minutes |
| Countries | Germany and Mali |
| Language | French |
Mali Blues is a 2016 documentary film directed by German filmmaker Lutz Gregor.[1] The film documents the lives of four musicians in Mali's capital city, Bamako, following a music ban with the takeover of northern Mali by Islamist groups between 2012 and 2013.[1] The film had its premiere at the 2016 Visions du Réel, the international documentary film festival in Switzerland.[2] Malian musicians Fatoumata Diawara, Ahmed Ag Kaedy, Bassekou Kouyate, and Master Soumy feature.[1]
The film had its premiere at the Visions du Reel in 2016, presented in the Bambara, Arabic, and French languages, with subtitles in English and French.[2]
American film critic Frank Scheck, in The Hollywood Reporter, wrote that although Mali Blues was repetitive and sluggish in its pacing at times, it was nevertheless a "gorgeous paean to the liberating effects of music and the joy it can bring even to people faced with violent repression in the name of religion."[3] Los Angeles Times critic Kenneth Turan found the most "compelling" scene to be the one in which Diawara returns to her childhood home, where she performs a song and speaks out against female genital mutilation.[4]
