Lingui, The Sacred Bonds

Amina lives alone with her 15-year-old daughter Maria in a suburb of N'Djamena, Chad. When Maria becomes pregnant, Amina fears for her daughter's future. Maria does not want the child. In a country where abortion is against religion, but also against the law, Amina is confronted with a struggle that seems lost from the start... The film title LINGUI alludes to the traditional Chadian word of the same name, which can be translated as "bond" or "connection". According to director Haroun, "Lingui" is a term that means solidarity, mutual help and sympathy in people's lives together. "Beyond its lovely visuals, moving story and authentic performances, it is perhaps Lingui’s evocation of the banal routine of oppression, of the habits that perpetuate systemic misogyny, that is the film’s most powerful stroke." (Cine Vue)

Keywords

  • Doing Gender
  • déjà-vu FILM
  • Politics: Human Rights
  • Storyline: Daughters
  • Africa
  • family
  • women

Actors

  • Achouackh Abakar Souleymane
  • Rihane Khalil Alio
  • Youssouf Djaoro
  • Briya Gomdigue
  • Mounira Michala

Director

  • Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

Drama


1h 27min


16 FSK

FR


EN

DE

Belgium
Chad
France
Germany
2021
Deeply humanist drama centred on the strength and resilience of women in the face of a dangerously patriarchal society.

Deeply humanist drama centred on the strength and resilience of women in the face of a dangerously patriarchal society.


Amina lives alone with her 15-year-old daughter Maria in a suburb of N'Djamena, Chad. When Maria becomes pregnant, Amina fears for her daughter's future.


Maria does not want the child. In a country where abortion is against religion, but also against the law, Amina is confronted with a struggle that seems lost from the start...


The film title LINGUI alludes to the traditional Chadian word of the same name, which can be translated as "bond" or "connection". According to director Haroun, "Lingui" is a term that means solidarity, mutual help and sympathy in people's lives together.


"Beyond its lovely visuals, moving story and authentic performances, it is perhaps Lingui’s evocation of the banal routine of oppression, of the habits that perpetuate systemic misogyny, that is the film’s most powerful stroke." (Cine Vue)

Festivals

Cast & Crew