For the Best and for the Onion!

Directed by Elhadj Magori Sani

52 minutes / Color
English subtitles
Release: 2010
Copyright: 2008

"I am singing about onion farming, bringing both suffering and joy." So sings an onion farmer as he works his field Galmi, in Niger. Beside him stands Yaro, a fellow farmer who knows all too well the hope and sorrow his livelihood can bring.

Agriculture is key to the local economy, with Galmi onions prized throughout West Africa. Shot over the course of one growing season, FOR THE BEST AND FOR THE ONION! is a verite documentary that captures the rhythms of life in Galmi, and how the vagaries of market price and harvest can affect the most intimate personal decisions.

Yaro's daughter Salamatou is betrothed to Adamou. The couple hope to marry soon, but after each harvest - much to his future son-in-law's frustration - Yaro postpones the wedding yet again. He says he wants his daughter to be married with dignity, and that means having enough money to pay for all the expenses tradition demands.

film still

As the growing season progresses, Yaro is under increasing pressure to finally set a date for the wedding. Meanwhile, the market price of onions begins a rapid downward slide and the engaged couple come up with a solution to speed their marriage.

Filmed in director Elhadj Magori Sani's home community, FOR THE BEST AND FOR THE ONION! offers a rare level of intimacy and immediacy that can only come from the eye of an insider.

"…provides an intimate look at the lives of one African Muslim family in Galmi, Niger."—Educational Media Reviews Online

Other Ways to Watch

Individuals

Available online from:

Colleges, Universities, Government Agencies, Hospitals, and Corporations

Purchase DVD for $390.00

Available for educational streaming from:

Select Accolades

  • 2011 New York African Film Festival
  • 2010 Pan African Film & Arts Festival (Los Angeles), Best Short Documentary
  • 2009 African Movie Academy Awards, Best Documentary Feature
  • 2009 Terra di Tutti Film Festival (Italy), Best Foreign Film Award
  • 2009 London Film Festival
  • 2009 DokFest (Germany)

RELATED TITLES

As a team of managers in Gambia try to build a microfinance business, they learn that the loans may be small - but the stakes are very high.

Sarah Vos | 2010 | 56 minutes | Color | English subtitles

A quartet of short films (on one DVD) that lay bare the reality of everyday life in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

2010 | 69 minutes | Color | English subtitles