SOLEIL Ô (OH, SUN)

France, Mauritania | 1970 | DCP | 102 min. | French, Arabic with English subtitles
Director: Med Hondo
Cast: Robert Liensol, Ambroise M’Bia, Bernard Fresson

A landmark of anti-colonial cinema, Soleil Ô exposes the hypocrisies of postcolonial France through the eyes of a West African immigrant (Liensol) looking for work in Paris. Confronted with exclusion, exploitation, and institutional racism, our hero navigates a surreal, often absurdist landscape shaped by celebrated Mauritanian’ filmmaker Med Hondo (West Indies). The director’s stylistically radical mix of New Wave experimentation, satire, and agitprop transforms personal disillusionment into a collective cry of resistance.