''Nha Fala'', English title: ''My Voice'' is a 2002 internationally co-produced
musical film
Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks ...
directed by Bissau Guinean director
Flora Gomes
Flora Gomes is a Bissau-Guinean film director. He was born in Cadique, Guinea-Bissau on 31 December 1949 and after high school in Cuba, he decided to study film at the Instituto Cubano del Arte y la Industria Cinematográficos in Havana.
Shot fou ...
. The movie stars
Fatou N'Diaye
Fatou N'Diaye is an actress, originally from Senegal, born 1980 in Saint-Louis du Sénégal.
Biography
At 8 years old, she left Senegal with her mother, and moved to Paris.
In 1997, aged 16/17, she was discovered by Oliviero Toscani, commerci ...
(sometimes as Ndiaye), Ángelo Torres, Jean-Christophe Dollé and Bia Gomes.
Plot
It has always been a firm conviction of the family that any woman who sings, will die. Now, while a girl is in France she becomes an international star. She realises that sooner rather than later her mother in Africa will learn that she sings. To solve this dilemma she goes back to her native village and arranges her own funeral, albeit with instantaneous rebirth. She is lying in the coffin while all invited guest form a queue and pass the coffin one by one. When she needs go to the toilet a boy will take her place. And then one of the guests says: How different she looks after having died. Is this an allusion to Bergman's movie "Now About These Women"?
Cast
*
Fatou N'Diaye
Fatou N'Diaye is an actress, originally from Senegal, born 1980 in Saint-Louis du Sénégal.
Biography
At 8 years old, she left Senegal with her mother, and moved to Paris.
In 1997, aged 16/17, she was discovered by Oliviero Toscani, commerci ...
- Vita
*
Ângelo Torres - Yano
*
Jean-Christophe Dollé - Pierre
*
Bia Gomes - Vita's mother
*Jorge Biague -Mito
*José Carlos Imbombo -Caminho
*
François Hadji-Lazaro
François Hadji-Lazaro (22 June 1956 – 25 February 2023) was a French actor, musician and producer.
Hadji-Lazaro founded the French independent label Boucherie Productions (1985–2001) and played in many bands such as Les Garçons Bouchers ( ...
- Bjorn
*
Danièle Évenou - Pierre's mother
*
Bonnafet Tarbouriech - Pierre's father
Production
The film was shot in
, one of the country's two cultural city and in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, the music were written and produced by
Manu Dibango. It was produced by Fado Filmes, a Portuguese company, alongside les Films de Mai based in France and Samsa Film based in Luxembourg.
Fatou N'Diaye
Fatou N'Diaye is an actress, originally from Senegal, born 1980 in Saint-Louis du Sénégal.
Biography
At 8 years old, she left Senegal with her mother, and moved to Paris.
In 1997, aged 16/17, she was discovered by Oliviero Toscani, commerci ...
, born in Senegal in 1980 learned the Cape Verdean Creole.
Reception
This musical comedy, which accompanies dancing like and its influences, the cheerful and dramatic narrative with African family traditions, with the emancipation of women and the exclusion of foreigners in Europe. The title ''Nha Fala'' (Portuguese: ''A minha fala'', feminine of ''A minha voz'' which means "my voice") also stands for the desire to express his innermost heart, unadulterated and free.
The movie was seen in several movie festivals including the
2002 Venice Film Festival where it was awarded, the
African Film Festival of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso, the Amiens Film Festival in the north of France., the 3 Continents Festival in
Nantes
Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...
, France, the 2002
Carthage Film Festival
The Carthage Film Festival (CFF) is an annual film festival that takes place in Tunis and founded in 1966. It is also called by its abbreviation JCC, from its French name, , or by its Arabic title, (''Cinema Days of Carthage''). Initially bienn ...
in Tunisia and the 2003
28th Annual Göteborg (Gothenburg) Film Festival in Sweden. In Brazil, they were seen at the 31st Bahía International Film Festival held in 2004 and the 2007 Itu Film Festival. In 2008, it was seen at the 2008 Göteborg (Gothenburg) Film Festival.
Release
The film was released on 25 May 2003 in Portugal, later it was released in France on 16 June 2003, Guinea-Bissau on 6 March 2004 and later in Cape Verde.
''My Voice'' was later released on DVD in 2013.
See also
*
Cinema of Cape Verde
*
List of Portuguese films of the 2000s
A list of films produced in Portugal in the 2010s, ordered by year of release. For an alphabetical list of Portuguese films see :Portuguese films.
2000
* List of Portuguese films of 2000
2001
* List of Portuguese films of 2001
2002
* List of ...
*
List of French films of 2002
A list of films produced in France in 2002.
References
External links
* 2002 in France
* 2002 in French television
French films of 2002at the Internet Movie Database
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online ...
*
List of Luxembourgian films
References
Further reading
''Nha Fala''in Lisbon
Magazine issues
* Revista ''Cinélive'' no. 70, p. 62
* ''Studio Magazine'' no. 191, p. 32
* Revista ''Première'' no. 317, p. 39
External links
*
*
* {{in lang, fr
at C.E,M. (interview with Flora Gomes)
Nha Fala– shown in Bissau (6 March 2004 – Bissau Media and Publications Agensy (Agência Bissau Media e Publicações))
Nha Falaon DVD
2002 films
Cape Verdean drama films
Portuguese comedy-drama films
French musical comedy-drama films
Luxembourgian comedy-drama films
2002 comedy-drama films
Culture of São Vicente, Cape Verde
Mindelo
Films set in Paris
Films shot in Cape Verde
Films shot in Paris
2000s French films