Timbuktu

Synopsis

Cattle farmer Kidane and his family live in the desert on the outskirts of the West African city of Timbuktu that has recently become occupied by Islamists obeying strict sharia law. Living in the dunes Kidane, his wife Satima and his 12-year-old daughter are happily isolated from this until one of their cows accidentally breaks a fisherman’s net. Forced into a tragic fight of honour, Kidane is arrested exposing the family to the severity of sharia law. Featuring violent acts of punishment, the film is a stark warning of the threat of religious extremism as much as it is an important portrait of a place and culture that audiences may know little of. Working hard to reveal the beauty of the landscape and its unique way of life shaped by the sand and heat, the film honours a community reluctant to lose their everyday freedoms.