Dao

Dao, we learn through a title card, "is a perpetual circular movement framing reality" and the film opens with documentary footage of members of the cast being auditioned. Director Alain Gomis (Today, SFF 2012; Félicité, SFF 2017) tells them: "You're going to be a real fake family" and as we follow this enthralling group, they seem not only like a real family but one easily identified with. Gloria (Katy Correa) travels from France to Guinea-Bissau to attend a commemorative ceremony for her late father, the revered patriarch of an extensive family. She's accompanied by her daughter Nour (D'Johé Kouadio), who's visiting her ancestral land and meeting some of her relatives for the first time. In France, in an alternate timeframe, the grand family gathering is Nour's elaborate wedding. Moving between these two celebrations, Gomis examines cultural identity and transmission, migration and the ties that bind families across generations and continents. With an entrancing soundtrack, including a recurring piece by the South African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, Dao draws you in, through the rituals and customs – both African and European – that bring families together, until you feel utterly immersed.