Astel

An exquisitely told coming-of-age drama about a young Senegalese girl whose relationship with her father undergoes a significant shift.

The isolated rural region of Fouta, Senegal, plays host to this delicately rendered, TIFF and Clermont-Ferrand award-winning tale of emerging womanhood from gifted young French-Senegalese director Ramata-Toulaye Sy. While accompanying her father and his herd of cows through the desert, 13-year-old Astel experiences a charged moment with a passing shepherd, and her father decides it’s time for her to become a woman. Astel is a revealing look at Senegal’s highly gendered world, as seen through the eyes of a teenage girl.