"Cinematographic creativity allows you to put the World Bank and the IMF on trial"
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, November 11th, 2006

Madji-da Abdi, producer of "Bamako", says the film does not include a sentence because they chose to leave judgment to the audience’s imagination.

An elderly man, a sort of duster in his hand, interrupts the trial of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund on the patio of a house in Bamako, Mali. He chants a cry of grief, pain, and desperation before the attentive eyes of the audience. "It was something that came from the heart, a song of the soul", said Madji-da Abdi in response to a question from the audience after the showing of "Bamako" in the auditorium of the library of the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD) this Saturday morning.

Discussing the France-US-Mali-produced film, the Madji-da explained that the work was filmed on the patio of director Abderrahmane Sissako’s home and addresses issues that have affected his own life. Many actors in the film are not trained professionals, but rather people who "worked for 10 days, filming 8 hours in a row, without dialogue, with high-level lawyers who had to lower their own personal pretensions to participate in this film".

Madji-da explained that Sissako’s work is part documentary and part fiction, and "a metaphor, since you can’t put the World Bank and the IMF on trial, but this is the freedom of cinematographic creativity", said the woman who traveled from Ethiopia to present "Bamako" in the Dominican Global Film Festival.

With regard to the lack of a sentence at the end of the trial, Madji-da explained that they chose to leave sentencing to the imagination of the audience. Referring to a scene in which an accusing witness is left speechless, Madji-da explained that "many times there is so much to say that it is difficult to speak, and silence is much stronger. In this case, the character is a professor who became unemployed after the privatization of the education system. His silence shows his frustration".

"Bamako" cost €1.5 million (about 60 million pesos) to make and has, "until now, been much better received that we could have expected" explained Madji-da in response to a question from the audience. "It is a film that addresses issues that affect us all. It is committed to its message and it is activist in nature, it seeks to raise awareness about what is happening and keep people from being misled. Today, this is what films are doing more and more".

The Festival, which runs until November 12, was organized by the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) www.globalfoundationdd.org and the Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE) http://www.funglode.org/FunglodeApp/. Under the title “Global Issues, Personal Stories”, the Festival seeks to increase global awareness via the retelling of personal stories and circumstances.