Yoon

In a jam-packed, ancient station wagon, Mbaye Sow couriers goods from Portugal to Senegal and back: a 4000-kilometer journey along dusty dirt roads, past gas stations and checkpoints. As he loads his wares into the car and on the roof, we hear a string of phone calls and voicemails from people placing their orders with him, from quilts and thermos flasks to Calvin Klein boxer shorts.

Through restrained observation almost entirely from within the car, the documentary paints a portrait of this alternative traveling salesman and amiable family man, commuting between the two countries he calls home, which are linked by a colonial past.

Along the way, he calls the homefront to discuss his son who doesn’t do his homework, and his wife’s aching knee. Meanwhile the landscape passes by, along endless desert roads that mean both freedom and danger. As soon as Mbaye gets home, the phone immediately starts ringing again and he begins to prepare for his next trip.