Timbuktu (2015)
88%RT Audience Score: 77%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 1 Oscar
28 wins & 21 nominations total
Gracefully assembled and ultimately disquieting, Timbuktu is a timely film with a powerful message
Timbuktu is a film that will make you laugh, cry, and feel all the emotions in between. It’s a powerful statement against extremism, but it’s also a beautifully crafted work of art. Sissako’s ability to balance humor and social commentary is truly impressive. The film is both entertaining and thought-provoking, and it’s definitely worth a watch. Don’t let the heavy subject matter scare you away – Timbuktu is a must-see.
Production Company(ies)
American Zoetrope Zoetrope Studios,
Distributor
NA
Release Type
Streaming, Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
Oualata, Mauritania
MPAA / Certificate
Rated PG-13 for some violence and thematic elements
Year of Release
2014
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby
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Aspect ratio:2.35 : 1
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Runtime:NA
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Language(s):French, Arabic, Bambara, English, Songhay, Tamashek
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Country of origin:France, Mauritania
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Release date:Release Date (Streaming): Jun 9, 2015
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Ibrahim Ahmed, Toulou Kiki, Abel Jafri, Fatoumata Diawara, Hichem Yacoubi, Kettly Noël, directed by Abderrahmane Sissako, written by Abderrahmane Sissako, Kessen Tall, drama, PG-13, Rémi Burah, Etienne Comar, Sylvie Pialat, Olivier Père produced by, $1.1M box office, critic reviews, Islamic fundamentalists, Malian cattleman, tragic accident, timely film, powerful message, disquieting, social conscience, comic sensibility, figures of fear, figures of mockery, poetic work of cinema, protest film, moralistic discourse, bleak, whispered condemnation, terror, stark beauty, audience score, thematic elements, some violence, French (France), 1h 37m, scope (2.35:1) aspect ratio
Worldwide gross: $7,179,391
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $8,972,424
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,999
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 978,454
US/Canada gross: $1,076,075
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $1,344,822
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,115
US/Canada opening weekend: $45,110
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $56,376
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,156
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Toulou Kiki – Satima
Abel Jafri – Abdelkrim
Fatoumata Diawara – Fatou
Hichem Yacoubi – Djihadiste
Kettly Noël – Zabou
Director(s)
Abderrahmane Sissako
Writer(s)
Abderrahmane Sissako, Kessen Tall
Producer(s)
Rémi Burah, Etienne Comar, Sylvie Pialat, Olivier Père
Film Festivals
Cannes, Toronto
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 1 Oscar
28 wins & 21 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Nominees
All Critics (124) | Top Critics (55) | Fresh (122) | Rotten (2)
Calling Sissako a brilliant filmmaker is an understatement.
March 7, 2017
Dwight Brown
National Newspaper Publishers Association
TOP CRITIC
It’s skilful, sardonic, honourably humane. Are those qualities, today, enough?
December 30, 2015 | Rating: 3/5
Nigel Andrews
Financial Times
TOP CRITIC
Sissako, who always has balanced his social conscience with a stridently comic sensibility, frames the Islamists as figures of fear, but also of mockery.
December 30, 2015
Adam Nayman
The Walrus
TOP CRITIC
For a film that makes you sick with dread, Timbuktu has a light, at times glancing touch.
December 30, 2015
David Edelstein
New York Magazine/Vulture
TOP CRITIC
What makes it so unusually compelling as a protest film is that it’s also a richly poetic work of cinema – witty, beautiful and even, sobering though it is, highly entertaining.
May 31, 2015 | Rating: 5/5
Jonathan Romney
Observer (UK)
TOP CRITIC
This is a film in which small pieces stand in for a daunting and horrifying whole.
May 29, 2015
Ryan Gilbey
New Statesman
TOP CRITIC
Some movies need time and distance to establish themselves and prove their greatness. ‘Timbuktu’ only needs 17 minutes to establish itself as a masterwork.
October 11, 2021 | Rating: 4.5/5
Michael J. Casey
Michael J. Cinema
Timbuktu is a strong statement against the extreme Islamic militants who seem to take the moral high ground and impose their laws upon people they don’t understand.
February 21, 2021
Dustin Chang
ScreenAnarchy
Timbuktu, is a drama of political subtlety that, being brutally honest, develops a powerful moralistic discourse. [Full review in Spanish]
June 26, 2020 | Rating: 9/10
Yasser Medina
Cinemaficionados
As the story of a cross-section of the people living under the occupation of misogynistic Islamist extremists, you might expect Abderrahmane Sissako’s Timbuktu to be bleak . It’s the opposite. [TOP 50 FILMS OF THE DECADE]
December 4, 2019
Alex Heeney
Seventh Row
Told with disarming simplicity, it’s a story of terror that quietly emerges from stark beauty.
August 8, 2019
Brian D. Johnson
Maclean’s Magazine
This isn’t a grand political statement; it’s a whispered condemnation that carries with it a great and noble weight.
July 5, 2019 | Rating: 3.5/4
Mattie Lucas
The Dispatch (Lexington, NC)…
Plot
A Malian cattleman and his family face the wrath of Islamic fundamentalists after a tragic accident in the powerful and timely drama, Timbuktu.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Nothing to add here about Timbuktu.
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