Ceddo

In precolonial Senegal, members of the Ceddo (or “outsiders”) kidnap Princess Dior Yacine (Tabata Ndiaye) after her father, the king, pledges loyalty to an ascendant Islamic faction that plans to convert the entire clan to its faith. Attempts to recapture her fail, provoking further division and eventual war between the animistic Ceddo and the fundamentalist Muslims, with Christian missionaries and slave traders from Europe also playing a role in the conflict. Banned in Senegal upon its release, Ceddo is an ambitious, multilayered epic that explores the combustible tensions among ancient tradition, religious colonization, political expediency, and individual freedom.

Film Info

  • Senegal
  • 1977
  • 116 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.85:1
  • Wolof

Available In

Collector's Set

Three Revolutionary Films by Ousmane Sembène

Three Revolutionary Films by Ousmane Sembène

Blu-ray Box Set

3 Discs

$79.96

Collector's Set

Three Revolutionary Films by Ousmane Sembène

Three Revolutionary Films by Ousmane Sembène

DVD Box Set

3 Discs

$63.96

Ceddo
Cast
Tabara Ndiaye
Princess Dior Yacine
Alioune Fall
Imam
Moustapha Yade
Madior Fatim Fall
Mamadou N’Diaye Diagne
Ceddo kidnapper
Ousmane Camara
Jogomây, elder Ceddo
Nar Sene
Saxewar
Makhourédia Guèye
King Demba Wâr
Mamadou Dioum
Prince Birima
Oumar Gueye
Jarâf, the king’s mediator
Credits
Director
Ousmane Sembène
Written by
Ousmane Sembène
Cinematography
Georges Caristan
Cinematography
Orlando Lopez
Cinematography
Bara Diokhane
Cinematography
Seydina O. Gaye
Edited by
Florence Eymon
Edited by
Dominique Blain
Original music by
Manu Dibango
Art direction
Alpha W. Diallo
Director of production
Paulin Soumanou Vieyra

Current

Three Revolutionary Films by Ousmane Sembène: History in the Remaking
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The Senegalese filmmaker’s steadfast devotion to African autonomy led him to become a foundational contributor to the hard-won, dynamic flourishing of an independent cinematic tradition on his home continent.

By Yasmina Price