Dakan

Credits

Name: Dakan

Country: Guinea

Year of publication: 1997

Format: 35 mm

Color: color

Language : OF m. engl. UT

Duration: 90 Minuten

Direction: Camara, Mohamed

Screenplay: Camara, Mohamed

Camera: Azevedo, Gilberto

Editing: Dos Santos

Sound: Charpail, Christine

Actor: Diakite, Koumba; Camara, Mamady Mory; Touré, Aboucar

Abstract

Manga and Sory are deeply in love, but their love is an unspoken taboo in their society. The two young men battle family and societal prejudice as they struggle to hang on to one another. But will their love survive? Widely considered the first gay film from West Africa, Mohamed Camara shot Dakan on location in Guinea. The film was met with protests once its subject matter became known. With Dakan, Camara does not raise an activist flag for gay rights. Instead the director asks us to look at the lives of two people in love and the challenges they face in a society where that love is forbidden.
Authentic and heart-breaking, Dakan (meaning destiny) is a compassionate portrayal of the gay experience in Guinea in the 1990s. Dakan premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in I997.
(http://www.filmafrica.org.uk)