Born in Paris, France in 1991, the screenwriter and director Alpha Diallo is of Senegalese origin. He studied history at the Sorbonne and has also participated in various writing programmes and residencies. Les âmes du Fouta is his first short film.
What was your starting point for „Les âmes du Fouta“?
In August 2006, when I was fourteen, I traveled to Senegal, my country of origin, for the first time. During this trip, I met my entire fulani family and spent a month in my parent’s native village, in the north of the country, in a region known as the Fouta. There, I learned of the death of my cousin’s best friend from a drug overdose. He was sixteen years old. Members of his family refused to bury him in the village cemetery, claiming that his soul was “impure”. I remember, in the midst of adolescence, this tragedy deeply shook me. I had never before been confronted with the death of a boy from my own generation. I strongly identified with him, without ever having known him. This story, where his family out of shame, did not bury him alongside their own, tore me apart.
Nearly ten years later, in 2015, I returned to Senegal. I was able to see my parent’s village no longer through the eyes of an adolescent, but as a young adult facing the world. Once again with my cousin, he told me how the death of his best friend had changed him and altered his way of seeing the world. He spoke to me at length about mercy and love. I could see the path we had traveled, from adolescence to young adulthood, with greater maturity and perspective. At the same time, I was beginning my journey in the world of cinema, first through writing, then directing. And I kept this story in mind, this tragedy carrying a powerful message of hope.
I began writing the short film in 2020, with sorrow, and suffering as its guiding thread. It was a long process of stripping the writing down to its core, during which I divided the story into three chapters : incomprehension, doubt, and liberation.
Do you have a favorite moment in the film? Which one and why this one in particular?
If I had to choose, I would point to the moment of Penda’s departure. It may seem like an escape, but through this act she confronts indirectly the judgment and the decision of her husband Moustapha. She throws him a challenge, and over the course of one night, a kind of confrontation, or long-distance dialogue between them. Despite the urgency of the situation, she remains calm, even though one can feel the fire gradually rising within her. Her journey traces an emotional arc that mattered deeply to me : grief, incomprehension, anger, revolt, leading to an explosion.
I also like this moment because it’s the film’s turning point. We know that this gesture will have consequences for her and for others.
What do you like about the short form?
The short film format requires conveying a certain amount of information and emotion in a very limited time. It demands concision and a clear understanding of what we want to tell and transmit to the audience. And precisely, it’s this constraint that appeals to me, because it calls for extreme precision in the writing, directing, and work with actors.
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