BelleMoon Productions has announced via press release that the company will premiere Senegalese director, Alain Gomis’ 3rd feature film, Tey (or Today in English), at the My Image Studios (MIST) Theater in Harlem (NYC) on October 6, 2013.
The fantastical narrative, which stars Saul Williams and Aissa Maiga, follows a man named Satche (played by Williams) during the last 24 hours of his life.
Of the film, director Gomis previously stated, “It’s the kind of tale that takes place in an imaginary society in which death comes looking for someone. The film starts when he opens his eyes and ends when they close,” said the director of the critically-acclaimed L’Afrance (2001) and Andalucia (2008).
Saul Williams, who most will likely recall from his work on the 1998 film Slam (as both writer and star), last appeared as himself in a series of documentaries – most recently Nelson George’s paean to the city he loves, Brooklyn Boheme.
On Aujourd’hui, Williams adds, “The film is not set in Dakar, we never say where it is taking place… [Satche is a] man of great intelligence, with little ambition who is not interested in the American dream and returns to his country after 15 years in the United States, to the unpleasant surprise of his family.“
The award-winning critical favorite, produced by Senegalese company Cinekap, and financed mostly with French funds, co-stars the absolutely lovely and talented Aissa Maiga (who you may recall, also co-stars in Phillip Niang’s Toussaint L’Ouverture movie), in a cast that also includes Djolof Mbengue, and Doss Thierno Ndiaye.
documentary films, and other hybrid formats, which cross cultural and linguistic barriers. And Gomis’ Tey certainly fits that criteria.