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September 6, 2026

EssayRestoration

Mambéty's motorbike: Touki Bouki at fifty

A Dakar road movie that refuses the road, restored by the World Cinema Project.

by Rui Themido

Mory's motorbike has zebu horns on the handlebars. It is the first image of the film and the only thing in it that goes anywhere.

Fifty years on, what still startles is the cutting: Mambéty edits against the sound, so Dakar arrives a beat before you are ready for it.