FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FROM THE ACADEMY-AWARD® NOMINATED DIRECTOR RACHID BOUCHAREB
LITTLE SENEGAL

“Evocative soundtrack…complements the lush imagery in this intelligent and intriguing look at some quintessentially American themes and problems.”- Variety

AVAILABLE ON DVD AUGUST 30, 2011

LOS ANGELES (August 19, 2011) – From the multi- award winning director and three-time Oscar® nominee, Rachid Bouchareb, comes the heart-breaking drama about an African man who heads to America in search of his past and his future. LITTLE SENEGAL is the second Bouchareb release from Cinema Libre Studio and will be available on DVD and digital platforms on August 30, 2011.

Shot in the Senegalese community of Harlem in New York City, LITTLE SENEGAL tells the story of Alloue (Sotigui Kouyaté), a slave museum tour guide who journeys on a pilgrimage from Africa to the United States in search of his relatives — those whose ancestors were taken as slaves. Through his search, he ends up in the projects of New York City. In this film, Bouchareb touches on themes of racism and discrimination between African- Americans and their native African cousins, the pursuit of the American dream while adapting to the cultural differences and the desire for family and community. Originally released in France in 2001, and never released in the U.S., it was an official selection to the Berlin International Film Festival and received numerous Jury Prizes for Best Film and Best Actor.

Born in Paris to an immigrated Algerian family, Bouchareb was long seen as a curio within French cinema. In 1987, with his friend Jean Bréhat, he founded 3B Productions and together they have produced eight films, three of them receiving Oscar® nominations for Best Foreign Film. His first nomination was in 1995 for DUST OF LIFE (Poussieres De Vie). In 2006, DAYS OF GLORY (Indigènes) earned him a second Oscar® nomination and his most recent film, OUTSIDE THE LAW (Hors La Loi), was his third nomination and also in Official Competition at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.

SYNOPSIS: After many years as a tour guide in the slave museum in Senegal, Alloune, 65, a widower living alone, decides to go to America in search of his ancestors who were taken away from his village 200 years ago and sold as slaves in the New World.
From Charleston to Little Senegal in New York, he searches for his relatives and also for an ideal vision of an African family. He soon discovers the tensions between the African and the African-American communities embodied by his nephew Hassan, a cab driver, his girlfriend Biram, an African with modern views on love and marriage and Ida, an older woman faced with seeing her pregnant grand-daughter destroyed by hard life on the street.

SRP: $19.95 | TRT: 93 minutes
Street Date: 8/30/11 | UPC: 881394112124
Catalog: CLS 1121 | Genre: Drama/ Foreign

Hi-Res Box Art: http://www.cinemalibrestudio.com/clscatalog/2011/LittleSenegal_3D_HR.jpg

Low Res Box Art: http://www.cinemalibrestudio.com/clscatalog/2011/LittleSenegal_3D_LR.jpg

Link to Trailer and Clips: http://www.vimeo.com/album/1671012

ABOUT CINEMA LIBRE: Cinema Libre Studio is a leader in distributing social-issue documentaries and features by passionate filmmakers. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the Cinema Libre team has released over one hundred films including the Sundance Audience Award‐Winning FUEL, THE END OF POVERTY, and Oliver Stone’s SOUTH OF THE BORDER. The studio is developing John Perkins’ best‐selling memoirs, CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HIT MAN, into a major motion picture. For more information and updates, please visit: www.cinemalibrestudio.com | Updates | Facebook | Twitter |Affiliate Programs

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