Oscar-Nominated ‘Timbuktu’ Director Abderrahmane Sissako on Being ‘Free to Dream’ in Berlin Competition Romantic Drama ‘Black Tea’
variety.comChristopher Vourlias Oscar nominee Abderrahmane Sissako (“Timbuktu”) returns to the screen for the first time in nearly a decade with his latest feature, “Black Tea,” a lushly lensed romantic drama about a love spanning cultural divides that world premieres Feb.
21 in competition at the Berlin Film Festival. It has been almost 10 years since the release of Sissako’s last film, “Timbuktu,” which was set during the jihadist takeover of northern Mali in 2012 and was described by Variety’s Jay Weissberg as a “stunningly shot condemnation of intolerance and its annihilation of diversity.” The film, a resounding critical success, competed for the Palme d’Or in Cannes, swept France’s Cesar Awards and was nominated for an Oscar in 2015 in what was then the best foreign language film category. “Black Tea” finds Sissako working in a more gentle, melancholy tone.
The film follows Aya, played by Nina Mélo, who walks out on her wedding day in Ivory Coast and sets off to start a new life in China.
Amid the African hair salons and cluttered market stalls of the Guangzhou district known as “Chocolate City,” she finds work in a tea shop owned by Cai (Han Chang), who initiates her into the traditional Chinese tea ceremony.
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