Senegal / 2004 / 96mins / Comedy / Wolof and French

This touching investigation of innocent love between five children in Senegal, set against the background of a traditional class system, chronicles their friendships and feelings between school, the street, and cultural divides. We follow their journeys through misunderstood love letters, unrequited crushes, and tender encounters with a beggar, all layered over Senegal’s economic and social strains.

Ben Diogaye Bèye

Ben Diogaye Bèye, one of the pioneers of Senegalese cinema, is both a writer and filmmaker. He did his film training in Paris, and apprenticed with noted Senegalese filmmakers such as Ousmane Sembène, Ababacar Samb and Djibril Diop Mambéty. He was an assistant director on several Senegalese and foreign films, notably Touki Bouki, by Mambéty, Baks by Momar Thiam, Sarah et Marjama by Axel Lohman, and was co-writer of the latter two. Bèye is best known for his earliest film, Les Princes Noirs de Saint Germain-des-Près (1972). His second film, Samba Tali won the prize for Best Short Film at the International Film Festival of the French-speaking Ensemble in Geneva in 1975 and the Tanit d'Or for Best Short Film at Carthage Film Festival in Tunisia in 1976. Later works include Un Homme Des Femmes (1983), which received an honorable mention at the Locarno International Film Festival in 1980, and the Prix de la Commune at the Pan-African Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) in 1981, and Moytuleen (1996). His 2004 film, Un Amour d’Enfant (A Childhood Love), looks at the trials and tribulations of childhood relationships. Ben Diogaye also researched and wrote the original script of Thiaroye '44, a project directed later as Camp de Thiaroye by Sembène and Thierno Faty Sow. He is an active member and leader in the Association of Senegalese Filmmakers. Learn More