Adama

A revelation in French animation in 2015, “Adama” tells the story of a West African boy who, in 1916, crosses through France at war in an attempt to save his older brother from the trenches. The two filmmakers – Julien Lilti, the screenwriter, and Simon Rouby, the director – took part in the Annual Selection in 2009 to write their film. In 2014, they received the Gan Foundation Diffusion Grant for “Adama” and were accompanied in 2010 at the TorinoFilmLab. The film was selected for the official competition in the Annecy and Ottawa and San Sebastian film festivals.

Synopsis

Twelve-year-old Adama lives in a remote village in Western Africa. Beyond the cliffs, the World of Breaths can be found, where the Nassaras reign.
One night, Samba, his older brother, disappears.
Defying the laws of the elders, Adama decides to set out to find him.
With the unwavering determination of a child becoming a man, he launches into a quest that will take him beyond the seas, to the North, to the front lines of World War One.
It is 1916.

Julien Lilti & Simon Rouby at Le Groupe Ouest in 2009 | © Brigitte Bouillot