Undertows, a Tuareg Tale

This documentary is both a historical and intimate exploration of the fate of a Tuareg tribe from the Timbuktu region, many of whom were forced into exile.

Structured as a journey of inquiry through space and time, the film traces a people, a family, and the filmmaker’s own lineage. Director Intagrist El Ansari travels from place to place, meeting elders, scholars, heirs of knowledge, as well as those who fought and those who were displaced. This search takes the form of a letter to his son – an intimate gesture of transmission, even a testament.

Through this personal lens, Undertows also reflects on the collective memory of the Tuareg: marked by colonization, drought, forced settlement, and successive exiles – a story of resistance and survival.