In the shadow of the Baobab Young filmmaker has work premiered at MWFF

By Walter J. Lyng, August 29th, 2012

When Jeremy Teicher travelled to a remote village in Senegal in 2008 as a student, commissioned by a non-profit organization to document the lives of the people who lived there, he would start a chain of events that would lead to a project much larger in scale than the 30-minute documentary asked of him.
“The kids I was working with were the first people to ever go to school in their family,” he says. “That was really fascinating to me.” The experience so inspired Teicher that he returned to the village after he graduated to make a fictional film based on the real stories of the villagers. Now, that film, Grand Comme Le Baobab (Tall as the Baobab Tree) is having its premier at the Montreal World Film Festival, as part of the First Films World Competition.
While making the initial documentary, Teicher gave out pocket cameras so that villagers could record themselves telling whatever kind of story they wanted.
“There was one story in particular that a girl made about arranged marriage in the village and how some kids are picked to go to school while others are picked to live more traditional lives,” he says. “This means, if you're a boy, you're working out in the fields. If you're a girl, you get married when you're quite young.”
This tale would go on to form the essential narrative of Grand Comme Le Baobab. The lead role of Coumba, a young woman forced into an arranged marriage, is played by Dior Kâ. She stars alongside her real life little sister, blending the divide between fiction and reality.
“We felt that a fiction story would better enable us to better address the issue of social change in the village, especially as it relates to early marriage,” says Teicher. “With fiction, you can explore the emotional nuances.”
Having grown up in New Jersey and now living in New York City, Teicher says he was able to take away lessons applicable to his part of the world as well.
“It's about the challenges and ups and downs that come with social change,” he says.
“That speaks strongly to me as a young American.”
Screenings will take place on Aug. 30 at 12:20 p.m. and Aug. 31 12:10 p.m., at Cinéma Quarter Latin 14 - 350 Emery Street. Tickets are available at www.ffm-montreal.org