Al'lèèsi-- an African actress

"Zalika Souley is in her fifties. She lives with four children a two-bedroom apartment with neither electricity nor water in Niamey, the capital of Niger. But thirty years ago, she was a movie star and Africa's first professional female actress, working with such celebrated directors as Niger's Oumarou Ganda and Moustapha Alassane. Souley was once the legendary bad girl of African cinema defying directors with her compelling improvisations. Yet, despite her fame, her life was beset by difficulty. In moving and often heart-breaking interviews, Souley speaks wistfully about how audiences confused her with the women she portrayed--vamps, adulteresses, prostitutes--and how, as her stardom rose abroad, she became a pariah in her own country. More than a simple chronicle of Souley's extraordinary career, the film is a moving homage to the heyday of Nigerien cinema in the 1960s when a cottage industry of Westerns, detective films and thrillers delighted audiences."--www.wmm.com. ; Sonrhay Empire Productions presents a film by Rahmatou Keïta ; original script, Rahmatou Keïta ; producer, Maryam M. Keïta ; production, Sonrhay Empire Productions ; written and directed by Rahmatou Keïta. ; Featuring Mustapha Alassan, Mahamane Bakabé, Moustapha Diop, Zalika Souley, Boubacar Souna ; VHS. ; French and undetermined Nigerian language with English subtitles. ; Director of photography, Philippe Radfoux-Bazzini ; editing, Omar Ba, Yero Maïga, Sebastien Garcia.