Director
Joseph, Gaï Ramaka
Cast list
Karmen Gaï : Djeïnaba Diop Gaï
Lamine Diop : Magaye Niang
Prison Gov. Angelique : Stéphanie Biddle
Old Samba : Thierno Ndiaye
Ma Penda : Dieynaba Niang
Massigi : El Hadj Ndiaye
Majiguene : Aïssatou Diop
Superintendant : Widemir Normil
Beach Singer : Yandé Codou Sène
Mansour : Massamba Madieye
Sidar : Ibrahima Mbaye
Inspector Tall : Coly Mbaye
Calki : Abasse Wade
Policeman Laye : Ibrahima Khalil Paye
Marie-Madeleine : Patricia Gomis
Credits
Writer : Joseph Gaï Ramaka ( inspired by Carmen, a novel by Prosper Mérimé)
Producer : Richard Sadler
Executive Producer : Philippe Cosson
Director of Photography : Bertrand Chatry
Production Designer : Miklos Meletopoulos
Editor : Hélène Girard
Associate Producer : Ghael Samb Sall
Costume Designer : Mame Fagueye Ba
Music Composer : David Murray, Julien Jouga and Doudou Ndiaye Rose
Synopsis
Karmen Geï is a reinterpretation of Bizet’s eponymous opera. We follow the story of the young and sulphurous Karmen who’s incarcerated in a women’s prison in Dakar. Through the use of her charms and sensual dancing Karmen escapes captivity by seducing her warden Angelique.While in town she is then caught by policeman Lamine Diop who falls in turn under the spell of the tumultuous women and end up being dragged with her into a downward spiral. The movie Karmen Geï is inherently transgressive and challenges the traditional norms of West African society with a female lead that embodies freedom in its purest state.
Reviews
Mitchell, Elvis. “FILM REVIEW; Driving Men, and Women, Crazy.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Apr. 2002. here !
Murray, Noel. “Karmen Geï.” Film, Film.avclub.com, 17 Apr. 2002. here !
Academic Articles
Nelson, Steven. “Karmen Geï: Sex, the State, and Censorship in Dakar.” African Arts, vol. 44, no. 1, 2011, pp. 74–81. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41330708.
Oteng, Yaw. “Joseph Gaï Ramaka’s ‘Karmen Geï’ and Female Subjectivity in the African Urban Landscape.” The French Review, vol. 85, no. 3, 2012, pp. 460–471. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41346264.
Ayo A. Coly. (2016) Carmen Goes Postcolonial, Carmen Goes Queer: Thinking the Postcolonial as Queer. Culture, Theory and Critique 57:3, pages 391-407.
Entry published by : Dior Sow