Amy, a young mixed-race woman, travels to Bobo, Burkina to reconnect with her mother whom she was separeted from at the age of eight. She discovers only her aunt living in the family home, finds the courtyard of her childhood comforting and settling. she feels a stranger in a city where she has no bearings.
For years now, Mariam, her mother, is a house cleaner in Paris. she has lived as a furtive shadow on the margins of society.

Sarah Bouyain
France, Burkina Faso
The film is in Dioula and French with English subtitles.

directed by Sarah Bouyain
produced by Sophie Salbot (Athénaïse, Paris)

with
Dorylia Calmel (Amy/Aminata), Assita Ouédraogo (Mariam), Nathalie Richard (Esther), Blandine Yaméogo (Acita), Nadine Kambou Yéri, Jérôme Sénélas and Dominique Reymond.

script : Sarah Bouyain and Gaëlle Macé,
Producer: Sophie Salbot
Cinematographer: Nicolas Gaurin
Editor: Valérie Loiseleux, Pascale Chavance
Sound: Marianne Roussy, Cécile Chagnaud, Thierry Delor
Music: Sylvain Chauveau


Bouyain's sensitive debut is a portrait of women caught between Africa and Europe. A biracial woman travels from France to Burkina Faso in search of her mother. In France, a white woman seeks to learn an African language for reasons unknown.
(TIFF 2010, Toronto)

Official description (TIFF 2010, Toronto)
Amy (Dorylia Calmel) was born in France, but her real name is Aminata. With a white French father and a mother from Burkina Faso, she has always felt in-between, especially since she grew up without her mother. So when she lands in Burkina searching for a connection with her African family, she looks, sounds and feels adrift.
Director Sarah Bouyain is herself a product of a Burkinabé-French mix. Her novel Métisse façon traced the overlapping identities of biracial African Europeans. The Place In Between expands that exploration and gives it the rhythms and immediacy only cinema can offer.
Amy's return to her mother's town is tentative. As she walks through the streets in her western dress, the local men call out, "Hey, white lady!" When she visits the home of her aunt Acita (Blandine Yameogo) to try and find out where her mother disappeared to, the welcome is no less distant. Her mother had a secret that shamed the family; Acita is not about to discuss these matters with a foreign girl who might as well be a stranger. But Amy perseveres.
The Place In Between contrasts Amy's journey with a story back in France. Esther (Nathalie Richard) takes lessons in the Dioula language from a Burkinabé woman who also works as a cleaner. At first it's not clear why Esther - white, middle-aged and middle class - wants to learn an African language. But as the film juxtaposes these two stories of women bridging the gap between Europe and Africa, the connections become clear and ultimately heartbreaking.
The Place In Between is a reminder that the most touching films are sometimes told simply. Bouyain's camera is intimate as it observes the women and poised as it establishes two distinct worlds: one of red dirt courtyards and bright patterned dresses and the other of white-walled offices and quiet gardens. In each world, though, women struggle to balance duties with desires. The stories of Amy and Esther may be separated by distance and culture, but they turn out to have much in common.
Cameron Bailey (TIFF 2010, Toronto)


Country: France, Burkina Faso
Year: 2010
Language: French, Dioula
Producer: Sophie Salbot
Screenplay: Sarah Bouyain, Gaëlle Macé
Runtime: 82

International Sales Agent: Colifilms Diffusion
Production Company: Athénaïse/Abissia Productions

FESTIVALS /Awards

2011 - Helsinki African Film Festival - HAFF 2011 | Finland | http://haff.fi/fi/elokuvat/item/30-notre-étrangère-the-place-in-between/30-notre-étrangère-the-place-in-between
* Selection
Screening times: Sunday 15 May at 15:00, Andorra

2011 FESPACO:
* Prix de l'Union Européenne,
* Prix Oumarou Ganda for best first film

2010 Toronto International Film Festival:
* Official Selection

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SUOMEKSI / FINLANDAIS

Ranskassa syntyneen Amyn oikea nimi on Aminata. Hän on kasvanut valkoihoisen ranskalaisen isänsä kanssa ja nähnyt burkinafasolaisen äitinsä vain lapsena. Amy on tuntenut elävänsä kahden maailman välitilassa. Hän matkustaa juurilleen Burkina Fasoon ja löytää tätinsä. Tietojen löytäminen omasta äidistä ja perheestä ei ole helppoa epäluulojen ja kielimuurin takia. Rinnakkaisessa tarinassa ranskalainen nainen opettelee Dioulan kieltä Pariisissa, opettajanaan burkinafasolainen siivooja - Amyn äiti. Kolmen naisen kohtalot leikkaavat herkässä ja tarkasti havainnoidussa draamassa, joka tutkii toiseutta identiteetin ja kulttuurin näkökulmista

Burkina Faso/Ranska | 2010 | 82 min
Elokuva on dioulan- ja ranskankielinen ja tekstitetty englanniksi.

Ohjaaja: Sarah Bouyain