Lingui, the Sacred Bonds
On the outskirts of the Chadian capital of N'Djamena Amina lives alone with her 15-year-old daughter Maria. Amina earns a pittance by creating wire stoves out of the inside of discarded tyres; still, it is enough not to be dependent on their neighbour Brahim, who has designs on her. One day Maria comes home from school dejected; Amina immediately knows that something is amiss. And she is right: Maria is pregnant. Amina is furious, even more so when she discovers that Maria does not want to keep the baby. Eventually, she agrees, but in Chad, which is largely Islamic, abortion is strictly forbidden. Still, Amina doesn't abandon her daughter.
Lingui is a Chadian word meaning bonds between people. It stands for solidarity, mutual aid and assisting each other in need. Director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, a guest at WCA in 2006 with Un homme qui crie, shows in an understated and human way how lingui manifests in daily life.
MAHAMAT-SALEH HAROUN (1960, Chad) studied film in Paris. His debut Bye Bye Africa (1999) was the first feature film ever made in Chad. His feature Dry Season won the Grand Special Jury Prize in Venice and Un homme qui crie won the Jury Prize in Cannes, where he was a jury member in 2011. Lingui, The Sacred Bonds won the Interfedi Award at the 2021 Torino Film Festival.
