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At Berlinale, Alain Gomis Premieres 'Dao,' a Three-Hour Cross-Continental Family Saga

The film blurs fiction and documentary through on-screen casting, unscripted scenes and a mix of professional and first-time actors.

Overview

  • Unveiled in competition at the 76th Berlin International Film Festival, Dao centers on a Franco-Bissau-Guinean family across linked ceremonies.
  • The narrative intercuts a wedding near Paris with a funeral commemoration in Guinea-Bissau to explore diaspora, memory and generational bonds.
  • Katy Correa and D’Johé Kouadio lead as a mother–daughter duo, joined by Samir Guesmi and an ensemble that includes members of the director’s own family.
  • Inspired by Gomis’s experience of his father’s funeral, the project was shot in 20 days across France and Guinea-Bissau, generating about 200 hours of footage later shaped into a roughly three-hour film.
  • Early festival reviews commend the ambition, authenticity and performances while noting the expansive runtime and episodic, meandering structure.