However, the actors of the film including refugees from the M'berra Camp in Mauritania say they are unhappy because they have not watched the film yet, their lives have not changed either and they could not take advantage of these awards. "We are really disappointed".
Leila WaletImahta is13 years old. She played the role of Toya in Timbuktu, says: "I was very happy when I heard I was going to participate in this film. I thought everything was going to change".
Leila says that she felt fulfilled in the shooting location, as she met new people from different countries (Africa, Maghreb and Europe).
"Today, I am a little disappointed not to be with those who receive awards. We, all the refugees, are proud of this film. This success, somewhere, was obtained thanks to us. They should not forget us", "she said in an outraged tone.
Med Elmehdy Ag Med Elhaj is also 13 years old. He played the role of Issane, the little shepherd. He believes that the film did not change his life.
"It is only now that I discovered the reality behind the films I watch on television or on the computer", he states.
He adds: "Formerly, films used to traumatize me. I thought what I would see was real. Today, I would love to play in other films".
The young actor still remembers the good times at the shooting location: "With Leila, who was my girlfriend in Timbuktu, we played football. We would sit in the canteen, sing, listen to film's musicians play the Tuareg guitar. It was good, it was as if we found our parents who stayed in Timbuktu".
For Acheikh Ag Med, who played the role of the deputy of the jihadist chief (the driver is his name in the film) came from Nouakchott, things are different: "I took enormous risks in this role. The jihadists know me now. Since the end of the shooting, I often receive warning messages in mosques threatening me of death. " "I know I played a very difficult role. I'm the one who speaks the Algerian Arabic dialect fluently, that's why they chose me for this role", he says.
"Today I am very disappointed. The film is reaping rewards and I am living normally but on top of that I am threatened. I work as an NGO facilitator in a refugee camp with a salary of 20 000 MRO, that is 50 Euros".
Furthermore, another youth who played the role of a jihadist says he is happy to have participated in this shooting: "It allowed me to earn money to pay my debts. I am satisfied because I was really in need, regardless of whether the compensation is fair".
For Albaker Ag Zein El Abidine, an extra in the film who was selected in Nouakchott in December 2013, he says he is unsatisfied and disappointed to have participated in the film: "In Nouakchott, they made me sign the contract and promised I would earn 30 000 MRO for every shooting session and 3,500 Ouguiyas per day. But at Oualata, I only received 20 000 MRO by shooting session and 3 000 MRO daily. I gave up my job as a petrol pump attendant in a petrol station that I managed in Nouakchott when I accepted the role. Today, I feel bad, I live in the refugee camp of M'berra and I'm unemployed".
Enaderfé Ag Elmehdy is the guardian of minors who came from M'berra for the shooting , he think that at least three actors should have accompanied the director to Egypt, to the Césars Ceremony and to FESPACO. This would have provided opportunities to the young shepherd, Med Elmedhy at Toya, Leila and the deputy jihadist Assistant, Acheikh.
Enaderfé adds: "Otherwise, on the payment level, everyone was satisfied and there were even people who were paid three times by mistake the price of each scene that they played in the shooting".
Idrissa Ag Ousmane, the third assistant in the film production, explains: "the film's director Abderrahmane Sissako has even taken care of Malian refugees who have done nothing in the film and he paid them just because they chose to attend the shooting", noting that the director also promised to help all children who participated in the film".
We contacted several times Abderrahmane Sissako to know his version but so far we have not managed to get an appointment with him.
The film, Timbuktu, is a fiction shot between Timbuktu in Mali and the city of Oulata in the South-east Mauritania in January 2014. It tells how jihadists managed northern Mali in 2012 and imposed Sharia there. But, despite the ferocity of their repression, the population resisted with courage, often in the name of another conception of Islam.
