The Pathé cinema in Dakar organised a special evening for the preview of the film “Tirailleurs” by its director Mathieu Vadepied in Senegal, which will be released on 6 January.
The film, which pays tribute to the Africans who fought for France during the First World War, tells the story of young Thierno, forcibly recruited in a small Senegalese village by the French army in 1917, and of his father who voluntarily enlists to look after him in the horror of the trenches. More than 200,000 of them fought for France in the Great War.
Senegalese actor Omar Sy, who is also a co-producer of the film, told the media that it is his story and his identity, adding that the film is an opportunity to recall and recognise what men have contributed to the history of relations between France and Senegal.