_One final journey home
OFFICIAL SELECTION
_Synopsis
ARTOU follows a family of three sisters and three brothers after the death of their father in Europe, to fulfill the patriarch’s final wish: to be laid to rest beside his father, in eternal sleep, in his native village in Mauritania. Through this intimate return, the work reflects on family, belonging, and grief. This journey is subtly accompanied by the voice of the award-winning French actor Omar Sy.
Format: 360° VR
Running time: 27'
Status: Completed
Versions: French, English
Year: 2026
Director: Abderrahmane SISSAKO
Producers: Omar SY, Maryvonne LE MEUR (FR), François LE GALL, Marion GUTH (LU)
Line Producers: Kessen TALL (MR), Pierre CATTAN (FR)
Production companies: Korokoro Production (FR), France Télévisions (FR), Dune Vision (MR), a_BAHN (LU)
International sales: Diversion
With the support of: CNC (FR), Film Fund Luxembourg (LU), Film Committee at Media City Qatar (QA)
Abderrahmane SISSAKO
Film director
Abderrahmane Sissako crafts deeply humanist and engaged works, exploring the complex relationships between the Global North and South, as well as the fate of a resilient yet challenged Africa. A filmmaker navigating cultures and continents, Sissako was born in Mauritania in 1961, spent his childhood in Mali, and left for the Soviet Union in 1983 to study cinema at VGIK in Moscow. There, he directed his first short films, including Le Jeu (1989) and Octobre (1991,37 minutes), which was selected for Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival in 1993.
In the early 1990s, he settled in France, where he directed La Vie sur Terre (1998), screened at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs. His next feature, Heremakono
(Waiting for Happiness), was selected for Un Certain Regard
in 2002 and won the FIPRESCI Prize. He returned to Cannes in 2006 with Bamako, presented out of competition. In 2014, Timbuktu became the first Mauritanian film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (2015). In France, it won seven César Awards, including Best Director and Best Film. In 2022, Sissako collaborated with Damon Albarn to create the opera Le Vol du Boli at the Théâtre du Châtelet. His latest film, Black Tea, was released in 2024.
Abderrahmane Sissako crafts deeply humanist and engaged works, exploring the complex relationships between the Global North and South, as well as the fate of a resilient yet challenged Africa. A filmmaker navigating cultures and continents, Sissako was born in Mauritania in 1961, spent his childhood in Mali, and left for the Soviet Union in 1983 to study cinema at VGIK in Moscow. There, he directed his first short films, including Le Jeu (1989) and Octobre (1991,37 minutes), which was selected for Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival in 1993.
In the early 1990s, he settled in France, where he directed La Vie sur Terre (1998), screened at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs. His next feature, Heremakono
(Waiting for Happiness), was selected for Un Certain Regard
in 2002 and won the FIPRESCI Prize. He returned to Cannes in 2006 with Bamako, presented out of competition. In 2014, Timbuktu became the first Mauritanian film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (2015). In France, it won seven César Awards, including Best Director and Best Film. In 2022, Sissako collaborated with Damon Albarn to create the opera Le Vol du Boli at the Théâtre du Châtelet. His latest film, Black Tea, was released in 2024.
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