Musical Globe

Le Mali 70

Markus CM Schmidt
Screening time  
31.03. / Friday, 15:00 - 17:00 Theatre 4  

In Berlin, a bigband discovers old vinyls from the Malian Bigband era, music which embodied the hope for Malian independence before a coup brought an end to the legendary brass sections.  Inspired by these songs, the Berliners travel to Mali to find the heroes of their vinyl-collection. There they research the origins of the songs and bring back the lost brass sections to play with forgotten Malian stars, leading often to heated arguments over the correct beats, and record an album in a studio in Bamako. The film offers a rare insight into the working relationships between artists from different cultures. It captures several key moments which would eventually lead to the production of a truly collaborative album that pays homage to a special period in Mali’s rich musical history.

Markusschmidt

Markus CM Schmidt

Markus CM Schmidt has mainly been working as film editor and sound recordist on documentary cinema and television films since 1994. During his editing studies at the HFF "Konrad Wolf" in Potsdam, he made his first documentary film Die Kinder Von Sachsenhausen (1994), followed by Volles Rohr (1996). In 2003, the year of the Gulf War, Markus founded a filmmakers’ initiative, from which the critical anti-war film Freedom2speak emerged and toured at international festivals. Subsequently, he developed and realized the grand format Sleeping Monsters in Eastern Congo, which was firstly broadcasted on arte in 2008. For his film The Last Catch (2012), Markus researched extensively with fishermen in southern France and was thus able to shoot on a tuna boat. The film was awarded the main prize in Turin and Ludwigsburg. The films edited by Markus Schmidt have also won many awards.

General sponsor

Le Mali 70

Germany
2022, 93'

Directed by:
Markus CM Schmidt

Cinematography:
Martin Langner

Edited by:
Markus CM Schmidt

Producer:
Florian Schewe

Produced by:
Film Five GmbH, GER

Festivals & Awards:

DOK.fest Munich (2022), Braunschweig IFF (2022), Cinémas d'Afrique (2022), AFRIKAMERA (2022), TAKT FF (2022), Afrika Alive Festival (2023)