A Screaming Man (UN HOMME QUI CRIE) 2010
Mahamat-Saleh Haroun / 92 mins
Synopsis
Present-day Chad. Adam, sixty something, a former swimming champion, is a pool attendant at a smart N’Djamena hotel. When the hotel gets taken over by new Chinese owners, he is forced to give up his job to his son Abdel. Terribly resentful, he feels socially humiliated. The country is in the throes of a civil war. Rebel forces are attacking the government. The authorities demand that the population contributes to the "war effort", giving money or volunteers old enough to fight off the assailants. The District Chief constantly harasses Adam for his contribution. But Adam is penniless; he only has his son...
This film will be available to view here for 48 hours from the listed date. It is free to watch but donations are welcomed.
Introduction from the TANO network
Mahamat-Saleh Haroun has solidified his position as one of the continent’s leading auteurs. Haroun’s multiple award-winning films explore themes of exile, belonging, family, violence, trauma, and social injustice. Whether in fiction or documentary, Haroun’s films reflect a distinct visual style and unique voice. Winner of the Jury Prize at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, A Screaming Man provides an austere, yet surprisingly affective and engrossing portrait of the relationship between father and son. As the film quietly builds to its tragic climax, the words of the great poet Aimé Césaire, from which the film borrows its title, serve as both portent and searing admonition: “Beware of assuming the sterile attitude of a spectator, for life is not a spectacle, a sea of miseries is not a proscenium, a screaming man is not a dancing bear.”
Past Showings
Thursday 1st October 2020 / 7pm for 48 hours / Online