Soleil Ô

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title: "Soleil Ô" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1970-directorial-debut-films", "1970-drama-films", "1970-films", "1970-multilingual-films", "1970s-arabic-language-films", "1970-french-films", "1970s-french-language-films", "films-about-immigration-to-france", "films-about-racism", "films-set-in-france", "french-black-and-white-films", "french-drama-films", "french-multilingual-films", "golden-leopard-winners", "mauritanian-drama-films", "french-language-drama-films", "arabic-language-drama-films"] description: "1970 French-Mauritanian film by Med Hondo" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soleil_Ô" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary 1970 French-Mauritanian film by Med Hondo ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox film"]

Field	Value
name	Soleil Ô
image	Soleil-O.jpg
caption	Film poster
director	Med Hondo
writer	Med Hondo
starring	Robert Liensol
Théo Légitimus
music	George Anderson
cinematography	François Catonné
Jean-Claude Rahaga
editing	Michèle Masnier
Clément Menuet
studio	Grey Films
Shango Films
distributor	USA: New Yorker Films
released
runtime	98 minutes
country	Mauritania
France
language	French
Hassaniya Arabic
budget	$30,000
::

| name = Soleil Ô | image = Soleil-O.jpg | alt = | caption = Film poster | director = Med Hondo | producer = | writer = Med Hondo | starring = Robert Liensol Théo Légitimus | music = George Anderson | cinematography = François Catonné Jean-Claude Rahaga | editing = Michèle Masnier Clément Menuet | studio = Grey Films Shango Films | distributor = USA: New Yorker Films | released = | runtime = 98 minutes | country = Mauritania France | language = French Hassaniya Arabic | budget = $30,000 | gross = Soleil Ô (; "Oh, Sun") is a 1970 French-Mauritanian drama film written and directed by Med Hondo.

The title refers to a West Indian song that tells of the pain of the black people from Dahomey (now Benin) who were taken to the Caribbean as slaves.

Premise

A black immigrant makes his way to Paris in search of his Gaul ancestors. The immigrants desperately seek work and a place to live, but find themselves face to face with indifference, rejection, and humiliation, before heeding the final call for uprising.

Cast

• Robert Liensol as Visitor
• Théo Légitimus as Afro Girl
• Gabriel Glissand
• Bernard Fresson as Friend
• Yane Barry as White Girl
• Greg Germain
• Armand Meffre
• Med Hondo as the narrator

Reception

The film played during the International Critics' Week at the 1970 Cannes Film Festival, where it received critical acclaim. It received a Golden Leopard award at the 1970 Locarno International Film Festival.

In his Family Guide to Movies on Video, Henry Herx wrote that the film's "use of ironic humor and lively music keeps the plight of the black emigrant worker from becoming totally depressing."

In The New Yorker, Richard Brody wrote: "Making friends among France's white population, [the main character] finds their empathy condescending and oblivious, and his sense of isolation and persecution raises his identity crisis to a frenzied pitch. Hondo offers a stylistic collage to reflect the protagonist’s extremes of experience, from docudrama and musical numbers to slapstick absurdity, from dream sequences and bourgeois melodrama to political analyses."

Restoration

In 2017, Soleil Ô was restored by Cineteca di Bologna. The funding for the restoration came from the George Lucas Family Foundation and the World Cinema Project, as part of the latter's restoration initiative called the African Film Heritage Project.

References

References

1. (31 March 1986). "Med Hondo, interview Working abroad". [[Jump Cut (journal).
2. Genova, James. (2013). "Cinema and Development in West Africa". [[Indiana University Press]].
3. "Soleil O > Cast". [[AllMovie]].
4. (2006). "Directors in Focus — African Perspectives: Med Hondo". [[Harvard Film Archive]].
5. "Winners of the Golden Leopard". Locarno International Film Festival Official Site.
6. Herx, Henry. (1988). "The Family Guide to Movies on Video". The Crossroad Publishing Company.
7. "Soleil O Oh Sun".
8. "Soleil Ô".
9. Page, Thomas. (10 November 2017). "Martin Scorsese leads effort to save lost African cinema". [[Turner Broadcasting System]].

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