Selbé: One Among Many

Safi Faye’s groundbreaking 1983 ethnographic documentary uses one Senegalese woman’s experience to comment widely on gender and society.

Guided by the doleful singing of its subject, Safi Faye’s short documentary follows Selbé, a 39-year-old mother of eight living in Fad’jal, the filmmaker’s native Serer village in southern Senegal. Selbé must bear the burden of caring for her large family while her unemployed husband searches for work in a neighbouring village, her daily routine punctuated by a song cycle that recurs throughout the film. Using documentary as a vessel for ethnographic study, Faye examines the economic and social expectations placed on African women in rural areas.

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Please note: This short film screens with the feature I, Your Mother.