Abderrahmane Sissako’s acclaimed dramatic film,
"Timbuktu”,  which was Mauritania’s first ever film to be nominated for a
Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award and only the eight film from the African
continent to be nominated since the category was established in 1947,  tells the story of what happens when people
living in northern Mali deal with and eventually resist a jihadist takeover by
some militant Islamic rebels,

The film was inspired by the real-life story of the 2012
stoning of a young unmarried couple, by Islamists, in a Northern Mali town
called Aguelhok and Sissako said about his film that "Aguelhok is neither
Damascus nor Teheran and in no way am I looking to over-emotionalize these
events for the purposes of a moving film. What I do want to do is bear witness
as a filmmaker. Because I will never be able to say I didn’t know. And because
of what I know now, I must tell this story – in the hope that no child may ever
have to learn this same lesson in the future. That their parents could die,
simply because they love each other.

The film, which without question was one of the best films
of 2014  is an emotionally powerful, visually
striking, hauntingly beautiful film that will resonate with you long after you
see it  After its world premiere at last
year’s Cannes Film Festival, where it received a 10 minute standing ovation,
the film was picked up by the Cohen Media Group for U.S. distribution

The Cohen media group has announced that the film will be releasing on Blu-ray DVD on June 9. No word as yet as for any special features also
included on the DVD, but most likely there will be quite a few including a commentary track by Sissako about the making of the film..