Mettou

Mauritania, France

Producers: Denis Freyd, Abderrahmane Sissako

Production Company: Archipel 33, Nomad’s Films

Project Logline:

Mauritania, 2011. Mettou, a young Haratin girl, is a freed slave. Her master, Sheikh, took her as a concubine when she was 14. With no choice, Mettou accepted the marriage despite being in love with 20-year-old Mabrouk. When Sheikh dies, leaving Mettou a widowed mother, she entrusts her baby boy to her mother-in-law and leaves for Nouakchott, hoping to find Mabrouk. Mettou is a story of a new freedom and the difficult quest for a childhood sweetheart.

Abderrahmane Sissako was born in Kiffa, Mauritania, in 1961, and raised in Mali. He attended VGIK in Moscow on a study grant. His graduation short, Le Jeu (1990), was selected for the Cannes Directors Fortnight. Waiting for Happiness (2002) won the FIPRESCI award for best film in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, and Bamako (2006) won numerous awards internationally. In 2007 he was a member of Cannes’ main jury and served as President of Jury at ADFF in 2008. Additional films include October (1993), Rostov-Luanda (1998) and Life on Earth (1998).