'Timbuktu' Is A "Visually Stunning", "Searing Fundamentalist Drama"

Director Abderrahmane Sissako delivers a stunningly shot with dignified characters in his film "Timbuktu", set in the early days of the jihadisit takeover of northern Mali in 2012. Critics at this years festival have given positive reviews to the film. 

The Hollywood Reporter writes that the film is "hard to forget" thanks to it's "strongly drawn characters and the inherent poetry of it's imagery." The film once again brings Sissako to the center stage of African cinema. 

Many other critics have praised the director as well. Jay Weissbeg of Variety writes that Sissako is a "master" at bringing "magnetic dignity to his characters" and that he is "one of the true humanists of recent cinema". 

Being the first in-competition film to be screened at Cannes, "Timbuktu" makes a statement, one that should hold over until the end of the festival and could score Sissako a Best Director award. The critical acclaim of the film could spark a strong European arthouse play, with hopes of making a stateside release.