Akounak tells the story of a musician trying to make it against all odds, set against the backdrop of the Tuareg tishoumaren desert blues music scene. The protagonist, real life musician Mdou Moctar, must battle fierce competition from jealous musicians, overcome family conflicts, endure the trials of love, and overcome his biggest rival—⁠—himself.

An homage to Prince’s 1984 film Purple Rain, the story was written with and for a Tuareg audience by a Euro-American record label executive, drawing from the experiences of Mdou Moctar and his fellow musicians. Carried by stunning musical performances from Mdou, the film is equally a window into modern day Tuareg guitar in the city of Agadez, Niger as it is an experiment in new techniques of cross cultural collaboration, much like the genre of music being documented itself.

Though the film’s significant ethnographic and outside observer components disqualify it from being a proper cultural film, its efforts toward honest depictions, its involvement of local (though non-traditional) musicians, and especially its extensive use of the Tamasheq language are sufficient to qualify it as an alternate selection.