Chadian director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun is spotlighting women’s resilience in Soumsoum, the Night of the Stars, his latest film, which is competing at the Berlin International Film Festival. The movie centers on two female outcasts: Kellou, a teenage girl struggling to understand mysterious powers that isolate her from her community, and Aya, an older outcast determined to preserve mystical and cultural traditions. For Haroun, the film is a deliberate tribute to Chadian women, whom he describes as the quiet transmitters of memory in a nation scarred by decades of civil war. The movie’s lead actress, Maimouna Miawama, hopes the story inspires women to embrace confidence and ambition. The film was nominated for the festival’s top Golden Bear prize but ultimately lost to Yellow Letters.
Reuters
