JOKKONDIRAL, A TALE OF ALLIANCES

Agnam Lidoube, a Fula village in Senegal, 800 km from Dakar, in the heart of Sahel. The whole population is mobilized to welcome strange visitors: a film crew. But its not a shoot like any other. For twelve years Chantal Richard, the director of « Lili and the Baobab », has worked with the people of Agnam. In this region of Sahel, where the desert gains more land every day, the men have been compelled to leave their village to find work far from home. Despite this forced immigration, the Agnam have stayed in solidarity not only towards their family but also towards the whole community. They have created an association to undertake the various challenges dearest to them : water, education and health. Today, thanks to their efforts, a water system supplies the village, the first five high-school graduates are pursuing their studies in Dakar, and the clinic is looking for credits to buy generic drugs. Since 2004, the Agnam – the emigrants, living in worker residences in France, as well as those that stayed in the village – are mobilized for a new and difficult project: the shooting of a feature film and the reception of its crew. Beyond the cultural and economic issues of the film, they’ve attached themselves to the human aspect of this collaboration. In Puular, the language of the Peul, ancient nomadic herders, « Jokkondiral » means to meet, to
bond, and to journey together and cooperate.