Liti Liti

‘The new train passes through Guinaw-Rails, my childhood kingdom. In silence, the TER rolls over the ruins of the neighbourhood. Inside my suburb, backhoes and hammers clatter down on our houses. In this terrible waltz between silence and noise, I accompany my mother, at this moment in her life, where 40 years of memories are gradually fading away’ .
The new train passes through Guinaw-Rails, my childhood kingdom. In silence, the TER rolls over the ruins of the neighbourhood. Inside my suburb, backhoes and hammers clatter down on our houses. In this terrible waltz between silence and noise, I accompany my mother at this moment in her life, when 40 years of memories are gradually fading.
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Guinaw-Rails, a working-class neighbourhood on the outskirts of Dakar where Mamadou Khouma Gueye grew up, is disappearing to make way for the Regional Express Train. Between the noise of the machines and everyday life, the film observes how spaces are transformed and how lives are affected. Far from the official narrative accompanying the project, the director films his mother, deeply rooted in the neighbourhood, forced to leave her home. A former political activist, now weakened by illness and fatigue, she nevertheless reveals great strength and lucidity. By filming what Guinaw-Rails was and what it is becoming, the director also reveals a deep connection with his mother. The film creates a dialogue between urban transformation and family history, and shows the concrete and destructive impact of political decisions on the lives and memory of a neighbourhood that is disappearing. - Annagrazia Graduato