Study Guide for Week 13
Assigned Document
Ça Twist à Popenguine, dir. Moussa Sene Absa
(1993; 95 minutes).
Moussa Sene Absa
was born in Senegal in 1958. He is a
painter and filmmaker. None of the films
shown in this course were made with budgets anywhere near the scale of
mainstream Hollywood films; and none of them have had the wide sort of
circulation that Hollywood films get.
But even among the course films, Ça Twiste à Poponguin stands out for
having been with very little money—and for not being widely distributed,
especially when it was released in 1993.
Because of the shortage of funds available for making this film, for
viewers used to looking at the polished craft of Hollywood films—however vapid so
many of them are—this movie may look poorly made or unfinished in places. But bear with that and watch the film with
care and focus.
The characters in
the film are very interested in US and French popular musicians of the early
1960s, including Jimi Hendrix and Johnny Hallyday. After watching the film, listen to some
performances of both of these real world figures and read this
obituary of Johnny Hallyday and this obituary
of Jimi Hendrix. And find Poponguin on a map, please.
And now turn to
these study guide questions—and please edit and revise your responses with the
care your ideas deserve.
Questions
1. Several characters in the movie possess religious authority in Poponguin. Identify
those characters and the religious tradition each represents. What do you know about when each of these
religious traditions would have entered, or first been present in, Senegal?
2. What story is presented using shadow puppets? Who is the author of this story? When and where did he live?
3. Who does the film identify as the president of Senegal at the
time of the film’s story? Who does the
film identify as the president of France at the time of the film’s story?
4. The movie ends by telling the viewer what later happened to
each of the main teenage characters.
Make a record of this for each character.