Essakane Film NEW Trailer!

An updated trailer that highlights Tuareg and Malian culture as well as the awesome music to be heard at the Festival in the Desert. Includes music from Vieux Farka Toure and Tartit.

Essakane Film is a feature length documentary about the most remote music festival in the world—the Festival au Désert—and the battle to make it happen. Once a year, just outside of Timbuktu in the sand dunes of the Sahara, a music festival that serves to sustain peace and resolve regional conflict rocks the socks off an audience of thousands for three days straight. From Robert Plant to Jimmy Buffett, musicians from around the world have journeyed through the mystical terrain of the Sahara to jam with Malian, Tuareg, and West African musicians at the Festival au Désert.

As a homegrown approach to sustaining peace, democracy, and for developing tourism in Mali, the festival has brought significant cultural awareness and economic development to the local communities in the region and the tourism sector in Mali. But sadly, over the past few years, security warnings issued by Western governments have increased, affecting the attendance at the festival and threatening its viability. But that will not stop the festival organizers, the community, and the musicians who rock the stage from putting on another great show.

The film is currently in post-production. In January of 2011 the filmmakers traveled to Timbuktu to film the Festival au Désert and conduct interviews with many of the film's characters. The intended release of the film is spring of 2012.

For more info on Essakane Film:
http://www.essakanefilm.com/

For more info on the Festival in the Desert:
http://www.festival-au-desert.org/

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Festival in the Desert
• Festival au Desert
• Mali
• music
• Mali music
• desert
• desert blues
• independent film
• Manny Ansar
• Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni
• Tinariwen
• Khaira Arby
• Vieux Farka Toure
• Bombino
• Tartit
• Group Amanar
• Leni Stern
• Je Conte
• documentary
• Africa
• African film
• documentary film
• culture
• tourism
• Tuareg
• Touareg
• cultural heritage
• travel
• west africa
• sahara desert

[skipjackish]

I love it, just got back to Australia from the festival. When and how can I get this film??