''Dry Season'' ; ) is a 2006 film by Chadian director

Mahamat Saleh Haroun Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (; ) was born in 1961 in Abéché, Chad. He is a film director from Chad. He left Chad during the civil wars of the 1980s. Haroun is the first Chadian full-length film director. He both writes and directs his films. Though he ...

. The film was one of seven films from non-Western cultures commissioned by

Peter Sellars Peter Sellars (born September 27, 1957) is an American theatre director, noted for his unique stagings of classical and contemporary operas and plays. Sellars is a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he teaches ...

' New Crowned Hope Festival to commemorate the 250th birthday of

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

. Inspiration for the themes of revenge and reconciliation was taken from Mozart's ''

La clemenza di Tito (''The Clemency of Titus''), K. 621, is an ''opera seria'' in two acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Caterino Mazzolà, after Pietro Metastasio. Mozart completed the work in the midst of composing ''Die Zauberfl ...

''. ''Darratt'' won the Grand Special Jury Prize at the

63rd Venice International Film Festival The 63rd annual Venice International Film Festival, was held from 30 August to 9 September 2006, at Venice Lido in Italy. French actress Catherine Deneuve was the jury president for the main competition. Italian actress Isabella Ferrari was the ...

, as well as eight other prizes at Venice and the

Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou The Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (, or FESPACO) is a film festival in Burkina Faso, held biennially in Ouagadougou, where the organization is based. It accepts for competition only films by African filmmakers and chief ...

Plot

Set in the wake of the long Chadian civil war, 16-year-old Atim ( Ali Bacha Barkai) is sent by his grandfather to the city to kill Nassara ( Youssouf Djaoro), the man who murdered his father before Atim's birth. Atim, carrying his father's gun, finds Nassara running a bakery. Unexpectedly, the taciturn Nassara takes Atim under his wing as the son he never had and begins teaching him how to run the bakery. The emotionally conflicted Atim is drawn into the life of Nassara and his pregnant wife ( Aziza Hisseine), before a finale that ''Variety'' described as "sharp, fast and unexpected."''Dry Season''
by Deborah Young, ''Variety'', September 1, 2006

Notes and references

External links

* 2006 films Films based on operas Chadian drama films Films directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun Films set in Chad Venice Grand Jury Prize winners 2000s Belgian films {{FESPACO Bronze Stallion of Yennenga, state=expanded