Saloum
Jean Luc Herbulot
Spaghetti western meets Agatha Christie, meets Bird Box: The mercenary trio Chaka, Rafa and Minuit, known as Banguis’ Hyenas, kidnap the Mexican drug lord Felix during a coup in Guinea-Bissau. When the plane is shot during their escape, they have to make an emergency landing at the Sine Saloum Delta. The four find shelter with the friendly camp owner Omar. However, it becomes evident quickly that something is not right here. In impressive images, Jean Luc Herbulot stages the story interwoven with African mythology. As the camp guests sit together for dinner in Miss Marple-fashion, the tension is almost palpable. Chaka too hides a secret... But his attempt to free himself from his past unwittingly wakes evil spirits.
11 May 2022
19:30 h,
More information
| Direction | Jean Luc Herbulot |
| Country | 38 |
| Year | 2021 |
| Duration | 83 min |
| Language | Original language with English subtitles (French and Wolof with English subtitles) |
| Production | Paméla Diop, Jean Luc Herbulot |
| Cast | Yann Gael, Evelyne Ily Juhen, Roger Sallah, Mentor Ba, Bruno Henry, Renaud Farah |
| Camera | Gregory Corandi |
| Script | Jean Luc Herbulot, Paméla Diop |
| Editing | Nicolas Desmaison, Alasdair McCulloch, Sébastien Prangère |
| Music | Reksider |
Fantastic Fest; Austin TX - Winner Best Direction
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About the director
Jean Luc Herbulot was born in the Republic of Kongo. He studied multimedia project management and film editing in Paris, where he shot his first short film Vierge(s) in 2004. His first feature-length film Dealer premiered at the Fantasia Festivalin Montreal and was the first French independent film to be bought by Netflix. Back on the African continent he created and shot the show Sakho & Mangane in 2019 in Dakar. Saloum is his newest feature film that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. It has already received prices at the Fantastic Fest 2021, a nomination at the international competition of the Internationalen Filmfestival Warschau and the audience award Altered Statesat the Vancouver International Film Festival 2021.
Press Reviews
"Tarantino in African: [...] No film carries the word “cult” more insistently on its bloody forehead.” (Fantasy Filmfest)
“Genre cinema rarely feels as multifaceted as it does in Saloum. This may turn out to be the rare African film that enters the international mainstream, or, at the very least, achieves cult movie status.” (The Hollywood Reporter)
“Saloum acquires an unsettling folk horror-like ambience” (The Variety)
“Packing a huge amount of action and information into only 80 minutes, Saloum keeps its story and character colts firing throughout all the chaos.”
International Feature Film Program
