In 1963, shortly after the independence of Mali, the Tuareg population rose against the new government. Bloodily put down and followed by terrible droughts, this uprising led thousands of Tuareg from Mali and Niger to take refuge in Algeria and Libya. Teshumara, born out of the pain of exile, is a movement affirming Tuareg existence and the need for change. This is when the Tinariwen guitars started to resonate... This film is dedicated to my friend Amadou Aghali.

A quest for Al Khadir الخضر‎, the inner master. Al Khadir, a character generally unknown in Western culture, occupies a very important place in the popular and mystical knowledge of the countries of the Islamic rhizome, although its origins go back to ancient times. Al Khadir, literally the one who greens, inhabits the in-between world, the no-man's land, the fine interstice between the real and the unreal, life and death, sleep and wakefulness,.... this place is called Al Barzaj, the Isthmus. Where he passes, everything greens up, even the tracks of his footsteps are immediately covered with grass.