Displacement and the Quest for Identity in Alain Gomis's Cinema

Abstract

In this essay, I seek to explore the cinema of Alain Gomis through a focus on his depiction of displacement.I particularly examine three of his films where various forms of displacement occur, L'Afrance / As a Man (2001), Andalucia / Andalusia (2007), and Tey / Today (2012), in order to show that they share a similar aesthetic approach.I argue that Gomis's aesthetic approach is marked by intimacy and embodiment, which are strategies employed within the rich Senegalese film heritage in general.Gomis's cinema is multi-sensorial.Its narrative is the result of a combination of visual and aural elements, which also suggest an investment in the haptic.Through this unique approach Gomis engages in a representation of displacement whose resolution is questionable, as it is shaped by a strong psychological component.The displacement experienced by the characters of his films leads to disturbing situations in which the protagonists find themselves questioning their identity.This quest is hard to accept, particularly when it leads to the realization that displacement, as a psychological state of being, may never end.Alain Gomis is arguably one of the leading filmmakers of the twenty-first century and has won numerous awards on the international film festival circuit including two Golden Yennenga Stallion awards at the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO), and the Best African Film, among other awards, 1 at the African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) 2017 for his fourth feature-length film Félicité (2016).Born in 1972 in Paris to a Senegalese father originally from Guinea Bissau and a French mother, Gomis has had a prolific and internationally acclaimed career.

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