Virtual Reality and Talk - Meet Director Abderrahmane Sissako About His Film *Artou*

Meet Abderrahmane Sissako

On Sunday, 4 October 2026, CinéMo will be delighted to welcome Mauritanian filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako for his film Artou, selected for the 2026 Venice Film Festival. On this special occasion, he will meet the audience and discuss his film, his approach to filmmaking and the creative possibilities offered by virtual reality.

There are two time slots available:

• 3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.: Screening at CinéMo, followed by an exclusive discussion with Abderrahmane Sissako aboard the CinéMo.

• 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.: Screening at CinéMo, followed by a talk with Abderrahmane Sissako at 6:30 pm in the Festival’s Chill Zone.

Abderrahmane Sissako

Abderrahmane Sissako has created a humanistic and socially conscious work that explores the complex relationships between the North and the South as well as the fate of a battered Africa. He moves between cultures and continents: born in Mauritania in 1961, he spent his childhood in Mali before leaving for the Soviet Union to study film at VGIK in Moscow. In the early 1990s, Abderrahmane Sissako settled in France. His notable films include *La Vie sur Terre*, *Heremakono*, and *Bamako*, all of which were screened at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2014, his film *Timbuktu* became the first Mauritanian film to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. In France, he has won seven César Awards, including Best Director and Best Film.

Discover two immersive 360° films:

• Artou, Abderrahmane Sissako, 2026 (28 min) — Selected for the 2026 Venice Film Festival. After their father’s death in Europe, three sisters and three brothers carry out their patriarch’s final wish: to be buried next to his father, in his eternal sleep, in his native village in Mauritania.

• ‍The Island of the Dead, Benjamin Nuel, 2018 (8 min). A timeless journey, from an ordinary apartment to our final destination, guided by Charon, the ferryman of the Underworld. The horizon is the same for everyone: unchanging, inevitable. The question has always been the same, across all civilisations and throughout time: what comes next? Is there even anything at all?

CinéMo

CinéMo is a mobile cinema operated by the “ Art Explora Foundation,” designed with support from the CANAL+ Foundation. Equipped with 72 seats, it travels to different communities to offer free screenings and introductory film workshops to as many people as possible. At the Art Explora Festival in Le Havre, from October 1 to 11, the CinéMo invites you to discover two immersive films using virtual reality headsets. It’s an experience that lets you explore cinema in a whole new way.

A shared virtual reality experience

For its second season, CinéMo is joining the TRAVERSE network, a distribution initiative dedicated to immersive virtual reality works, which supports the emergence of new forms of storytelling by making them accessible to the public in suitable cultural spaces.

CinéMo will offer introductory sessions for school groups (middle and high schools) and local organizations, allowing them to explore immersive works with guidance from the TRAVERSE network.Sessions for the general public are also scheduled daily, as well as on weekends. All of our sessions are led by two facilitators on board the truck.

Virtual reality is not recommended for children under 8, pregnant women, or people with certain medical or physical conditions (heart conditions, epilepsy, high blood pressure, vertigo, motion sickness, etc.).