Tchissète The Mirror of the Tuareg

In his first featurelength documentary filmmaker Sébastien Wielemans heads into the Sahel Desert in Niger and immerses himself in the world of the Tuareg a traditional nomadic people Wielemans does not travel along with the different tribes but focuses his inquisitive camera on a small store in the desert On a micro level this meeting place constitutes a socioeconomic gauge of the Tuaregs living conditions and manners At the same time it is the reflection of some tribesmens underlying desire to abandon their wandering existence Owing to a combination of stills that momentarily freeze a couple of tribesman and loosely shot images of meetings anticipated or not Tchissète le miroir Tuareg transcends the common ethnographic documentary With philosophical reflections on the influence of his camera lens on both subjects and filmmakers the young director explores the cinematic language