Tall as the Baobab Tree

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Closing night film — New York premiere! Filmmaker in person!

7:00 show SOLD OUT; 9:15 show added with director intro — click here for tickets

TALL AS THE BAOBAB TREE poignantly depicts a family struggling to find its footing on the edge of a modern world fraught with tensions between tradition and modernity. Coumba and her little sister Debo are the first to leave their family’s remote African village, where meals are prepared over open fires and water is drawn from wells, to attend school in the bustling city. But when an accident suddenly threatens their family’s survival, their father decides to sell 11-year-old Debo into an arranged marriage. Torn between loyalty to her elders and her dreams for the future, Coumba hatches a secret plan to rescue her younger sister from a future she did not choose.

Presented in association with the African Film Festival, Inc., www.africanfilmny.org and Girls Not Brides, www.girlsnotbrides.org

Child marriage is almost always forced marriage. It disrupts girls’ education and exposes them to domestic violence and preventable health crises. To protect the rights of women and girls, Human Rights Watch has recently joined with other groups to call for the elimination of child marriage. Utilizing field-based research in more than 10 countries on this abuse, Human Rights Watch has urged governments worldwide to set 18 as the minimum age for marriage and to verify that both spouses provide full and meaningful consent to the partnership.

hrw.org/news/2012/10/10/un-mark-day-girl-fighting-child-marriage

  • Country Senegal/US
  • Language In Pulaar with English subtitles
  • Rating NR
  • Running Time 82 minutes
  • Director Jeremy Teicher

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.