DGA Monthly - Volume 6 - Issue 12 - December 2009 | A Special Projects Committee Global Cinema Screening: Min Yè Screenings in NY & LA

click images for larger views

Director Martin Scorsese (moderator), Director Souleymane Cissé, and actress Sokona Gakou at the Min Yè screening in New York - photos by Hilary Steffens (New York) and Trixie Textor (Los Angeles) - click images for larger views

Director Antoine Fuqua (moderator) with Cissé and Gakou in Los Angeles.

The DGA Special Projects Committee’s Global Cinema Series recently held rare bi-coastal screenings of Min Yè (Tell Me Who You Are), a film from Mali directed by Souleymane Cissé (Yeelen; The Wind; Waati). .

Min Yè chronicles the dissolution of an upper-middle class family against a background of traditional African-style polygamy. The film tells the story of Mimi (Sokona Gakou), a high-ranking Malian bureaucrat who becomes bored with polygamy and her husband Isaa. When she schemes to divorce Issa and marry her younger boyfriend, Mimi’s life is turned upside down as each day brings new complications.

The New York screening on October 8 was introduced by East Coast Special Projects Committee Chair Raymond DeFelitta (The Thing About My Folks) and was followed by a discussion about the making of the film with Director Cissé, moderated by Director Martin Scorsese (The Departed). They were joined onstage by the film’s star Sokona Gakou. The Los Angeles screening on October 12 was introduced by Global Cinema Chair Victoria Hochberg (Bad Boy) and actor Djimon Hounsou (Never Back Down) and was followed by a discussion with Cissé and Gakou moderated by Director Antoine Fuqua (Brooklyn’s Finest).

East Coast Special Projects Committee Chair Raymond DeFelitta introduces the film in NY.

Actor Djimon Hounsou addresses the audience in LA.

Global Cinema Chair Victoria Hochberg with Gakou at the reception in Los Angeles.

Cissé and Scorsese enjoy the post-screening discussion in New York.