VIMooZ

  • Home
  • Film Festival News
  • VIMooZ Cinema

THEY WILL HAVE TO KILL US FIRST: MALIAN MUSIC IN EXILE (2015)


  • Powerful Doc THEY WILL HAVE TO KILL US FIRST: MALIAN MUSIC IN EXILE Gets U.S. Release Date | TRAILER

    [caption id="attachment_11886" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]They Will Have To Kill Us First: Malian Music in Exile They Will Have To Kill Us First: Malian Music in Exile[/caption] Timed to Music Freedom Day 2016, BBC Worldwide North America will release Johanna Schwartz’s “timely and powerful” feature documentary They Will Have To Kill Us First: Malian Music in Exile. They Will Have To Kill Us First: Malian Music in Exile will open theatrically on March 4 in New York (Village East Cinema) and April 1 in Los Angeles (Laemmle Santa Monica Theater) with additional markets to follow. Music is the beating heart of Malian culture, but when Islamic jihadists took control of northern Mali in 2012, they enforced one of the harshest interpretations of sharia law by banning all forms of music. Radio stations were destroyed, instruments burned, and Mali’s musicians faced torture, even death. Overnight, the country’s revered musicians were forced into hiding or exile, where most remain — even now. But rather than laying down their instruments, these courageous artists fought back, standing up for their freedoms and using music as a weapon against the ongoing violence that has ravaged their homeland. They Will Have To Kill Us First is director Schwartz’s debut feature, and follows Songhoy Blues andmusicians Kharia Arby, Fadimata “Disco” Walet Oumar,and Moussa Sidi as they each deal with the unfathomable situation in different ways. Telling the story of the uprising of Touareg separatists, revealing footage of the jihadists, and capturing life at refugee camps where both money and hope are scarce, Schwartz and her indefatigable, mainly female, crew chart the perilous journeys to war-ravaged cities, as some of Mali’s most talented musicians set up and perform at the first public concert in Timbuktu since the music ban. Co-written by Schwartz and Andy Morgan, renowned journalist and former manager of Grammy® Award winning band Tinariwen, They Will Have To Kill Us First is produced by Sarah Mosses of Together Films and executive produced by Andre Singer (The Act of Killing) alongside Stephen Hendel, Victoria Steventon, OKAY Africa and Knitting Factory Entertainment. They Will Have To Kill Us First: Malian Music in Exile, features an original score by Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), and a commissioned soundtrack featuring Songhoy Blues, Kharia Arby, Fadimata “Disco” Walet Oumar, Moussa Sidi and many more to be released on March 4 timed to the film’s release and Music Freedom Day 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TX7ybW6nAQ

    Read more



Film News

Animation | Anime

Documentary

Foreign Language Films

Independent Film

SciFi + Horror

Short Films

Thriller

More Film News

Awards

Film Reviews

Trailers

Interviews

People

Film Release Calendar

Film Festivals

Film Festivals News

Film Festivals (List)

Film Festivals Calendar

Company

Home

About Us

Privacy Policy

Terms Of Use

Contact Us

Internship Program

Cookie Policy (EU)

Opt-out preferences

  • Bluesky
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Threads
  • X

Copyright © 2026 — VIMooZ LLC | Designed by TTHINKS

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
  • Manage options
  • Manage services
  • Manage {vendor_count} vendors
  • Read more about these purposes
View preferences
  • {title}
  • {title}
  • {title}