A powerful film portraying institutionalized racism and police brutality, Otomo provides a convincing look at the everyday world of refugees, who are continuously surrounded by tension and insecurity. In the summer of 1989, a Stuttgart newspaper reported the true story of a West African asylum seeker who physically assaulted an intolerant subway ticket-taker; fled, and became the target of a city-wide manhunt. Otomo is a sober, fictionalized reconstruction of a tale that shocked Stuttgart, and a gripping portrait of how institutionalized racism drives a disempowered individual to violence and inhumanity.

West African immigrant Frederic Otomo (Isaach de Bankole) lacks the proper papers to be hired for the most menial of jobs; he has survived for eight years with the help of a Catholic charity. Otomo is the target of verbal abuse, is thrown out of his boarding house, and even scorned by neighborhood dogs. He feels and looks out of place. A stoic bubbling pot of wrath on the run, de Bankole's performance establishes Otomo's essence without words-language cannot express the gravity of his situation. As a ticking soundtrack counts down his fated minutes, Otomo is helped by a kind, aging hippie and her granddaughter, establishing the potential for an inclusive German society….if it is not too late…

A film by Frieder SCHLAICH

Germany, 1999, feature narrative, 1hr24, Drama

starring Isaach de Bankolé, Eva Mattes, Hanno Friedrich

Year
1999

Runtime
84 minutes

Language
German

Subs
English subtitles

Country
Germany

Premiere
1999

Rating
NR

Note
VOSF

Producer
Thomas Lechner, Claudia Tronnier, Irene von Alberti

Director
Frieder Schlaich

Screenwriter
Klaus Pohl, Frieder Schlaich

Cinematographer
Volker Tittel

Editor
Magdolna Rokob

Production Design
Anne Schlaich


Cast
Isaach De Bankolé, Eva Mattes, Hanno Friedrich


Best Actress, Valenciennes Film Festival 2000



DVD Release Date: 11/28/2006
Original Release: 2000
To be ordered from ArtMattan Productions (www.africanfilm.com)

UPC: 736899102524
Source: ART MATTAN
Presentation: Wide Screen
Editions: Subtitled
Time: 1:24:00
Sales Rank: 55,020

Bonus feature film: WAALO FANDO by Mohammed Soudani; Otomo trailer; Chapters