Staff Only

Is it possible to avoid being problematic when you’re a middle-class white tourist prone to sunburn and entitlement? It’s what Spanish teenager Marta (a quietly intense Elena Andrada) wonders as she eye-rolls her way through a painful Christmas holiday in Senegal, staying with her estranged dad and annoying little brother in a resort full of white sunburnt pensioners. Turning her nose up at her dad’s timetable of culturally-appropriative tourism, she rejects family bonding time, choosing instead to make some local alliances, first with the hotel maid Aissatou and then a romance with aspiring filmmaker Khouma. As Marta becomes aware of the wider implication of her flippant teenage rebellion, Ballús’ strikingly self-reflexive film reveals pointed insights on the pursuit of cross-cultural exploration and solidarity.

To book your tickets for the screening at Ciné Lumière, visit the BFI London Film Festival here and select the screening at Ciné Lumière.