A Love Apart

A film by Bettina Haasen

This beautifully filmed documentary was shot in Niger, in the barren landscape of the desert, where a nomadic tribe, the Tuareg, keep their traditional ways. A charismatic teenager, Rhaissa, is about to marry a man she has never met. She learns from her girlfriend Fatima that her husband-to-be is not very handsome nor has an abundance of "ashek" or pride. But Rhaissa only giggles for she is resigned to her fate. Her parents have accepted the proposal and the unspoken tribal rules must be followed. This is the last time that Rhaissa can be a girl and have a shepherd’s freedom to follow the sheep.

The marriage ritual demands that Rhaissa spend the week before her marriage in a wedding tent, where she cannot speak to anyone or leave its confines. It is hard for this beautiful, energetic girl to be so confined but she submits with good grace. Her friends rubs potions into her skin and brush her hair as they prepare her for the big event.

Outside the tent the wedding celebration begins in earnest as villages arrive on camels loaded with gifts, Some of her other girlfriends are rebelling against these tribal ways and want to choose their own mates. Rhaissa however remains a dutiful Tuareg, and is willing to first meet her husband on the wedding night. This warm, intimate documentary allows the viewer to glimpse a tradition that may soon be just a memory.

52 min., DVD or Video. Sale $295. Rental, video only, $85

International Documentary Film Festival, Amsterdam, 2005
Thessaloniki International Film Festival, 2006
Grand Prix, Audiovisual de la SCAM, 2006
International Film Festival Cinema Africano, Milan, 2005