The Wedding Ring

Q&A with Rahmatou Keïta and Magaajyia Silberfeld

A student who hails from a prestigious aristocratic family, Tiyaa returns home to the Sultanate of Damagaran, in Niger, for the winter holidays. She is expecting the young man whom she met at university in France—who also comes from a wealthy family, not far from where she grew up—to make a formal proposal of marriage. While waiting for the handsome suitor, she shares her secret with her friends, learning the other women’s stories of love, marriage, and divorce, painting a compelling and revealing portrait of male-female relations in Sahelian society. New York Premiere

Preceded by
Vagabonds
Magaajyia Silberfeld, U.S./France/Niger, 1967, 16m
Rachel is a young woman living with her Nigerien uncle and his American wife. When her aunt has had enough of Rachel’s free-spirited lifestyle, she kicks her out of the house. Soon she runs into a washed-up movie star whose life, she finds out, is surprisingly similar to her own.