My favourite African filmmakers
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The first film director from an African country to achieve international recognition, Ousmane Sembene remains the major figure in the rise of an independent post-colonial African cinema. Sembene's roots were not, as might be expected, in the educated élite. After working as a mechanic and bricklayer, he joined the Free French forces in 1942, serving in Africa and France. In 1946, he returned to Dakar, where he participated in the great railway strike of 1947. The next year he returned to France, where he worked in a Citröen factory in Paris, and then, for ten years, on the dock in Marseilles. During this time Sembene became very active in trade union struggles and began an extraordinarily successful writing career. His first novel, "Le Docker Noir", was published in 1956 to critical acclaim. Since then, he has produced a number of works which have placed him in the foreground of the international literary scene. Long an avid filmgoer, Sembene became aware that to reach a mass audience of workers and preliterate Africans outside urban centers, cinema was a more effective vehicle than the written word. In 1961, he traveled to Moscow to study film at VGIK and then to work at the Gorky Studios. Upon his return to Senegal, Sembene turned his attention to filmmaking and, after two short films, he wrote and directed his first feature, Black Girl (1966)(english title: Black Girl). Received with great enthusiasm at a number of international film festivals, it also won the prestigious Jean Vigo Prize for its director. Shot in a simple, quasi-documentary style probably influenced by the French New Wave, BLACK GIRL tells the tragic story of a young Senegalese woman working as a maid for an affluent French family on the Riviera, focusing on her sense of isolation and growing despair. Her country may have been "decolonized," but she is still a colonial -- a non-person in the colonizers' world. Sembene's next film, Mandabi (1968) (english title: The Money Order), marked a sharp departure. Based on his novel of the same name and shot in color in two language versions--French and Wolof, the main dialect of Senegal--THE MONEY ORDER is a trenchant and often delightfully witty satire of the new bourgeoisie, torn between outmoded patriarchal traditions and an uncaring, rapacious and inefficient bureaucracy. Emitai (1971) records the struggle of the Diola people of the Casamance region of Senegal (where Sembene grew up) against the French authorities during WWII. Shot in Diola dialect and French from an original script, EMITAI offers a respectful but unromanticized depiction of an ancient tribal culture, while highlighting the role of women in the struggle against colonialist oppression. In Xala (1975), Sembene again takes on the native bourgeoisie, this time in the person of a rich, partially Westernized Moslem businessman afflicted by "xala" (impotence) on the night of his wedding to a much younger third wife. Outsiders (1977), considered by many to be Sembene's masterpiece, departs from the director's customary realist approach, documenting the struggle over the last centuries of an unspecified African society against the incursions of Islam and European colonialism. Featuring a strong female central character, CEDDO is a powerful evocation of the African experience.Senegal- Director
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Idrissa Ouedraogo was born on 21 January 1954 in Banfora, Upper Volta [now Burkina Faso]. He was a director and writer, known for Yaaba (1989), The Law (1990) and Samba Traoré (1992). He died on 18 February 2018 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.Burkina Faso- Director
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Born the son of a Muslim cleric in Colobane, near Dakar, Senegal, Djibril Diop Mambéty received no formal training in filmmaking. He experimented with theater, but in 1968, he was asked to leave an avant-garde theater group. Shortly thereafter, he made his first film short called Badou Boy (1970), which dealt with the life of a young renegade. By 1973, he directed his first feature, Touki Bouki (1973), about disaffected youth, and it became an instant classic. It would be nearly twenty years before he would create another film, Hyenas (1992), which is considered a sequel to "Touki Bouki" and a parable based on the classic play "The Visit" by Frederich Durrenmatt. Although his films were considered to be politically oriented, Mambéty rejected the realism preferred by most African filmmakers. His films were notable for their dream-like quality that left the themes of his films entirely to the interpretation of the viewer; this was, of course, the desired effect. In spite of the fact that Mambéty only completed a few short films and a meager two full-length features, the quality of his short body of work has rendered him legendary status among African filmmakers and, indeed, the international film community.Senegal- Director
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Kabore started out as a history student at the Centre d'Etudes Superieures d'Histoire d'Ouagadougou and continued his studies in Paris where he received an MA. During his studies he became interested in how Africa was portrayed abroad, which then led him, in 1974, to study cinematography at the Ecole Superieure d'Etudes Cinematographiques. Further inspiration came upon viewing Ousmane Sembene's Xala, which he saw as an example of how film could be used to express African culture. After returning to Africa, Kabore was made director of the Centre National du Cinema and taught at the Institut African d'Education Cinematographique. Along with students under his direction there he made his first film, 'Je Reviens De Bokin' (I Come From Bokin).
Kabore went on to produce practical documentaries such as 1978's, 'Stockez et conservez les grains' (Store and Conserve the Grain), which focused on agrarian concerns. Another kind of documentary he made in this early period, 'Regard sur le VI'eme FESPACO' (A Look at the 6th FESPACO) evidenced his concern for and promotion of African film. Kabore's first feature, Wend Kuuni (1982) was a breakthrough for African cinema notable for the way it translated African oral tradition to the screen. Next, Kabore returned to address the issues surrounding African cinema with a documentary, 'Props sur le cinema' (Reflections on the cinema) (1986). The short film featured two significant African directors, 'Souleymane Cisse' from Mali and Mauritania born Med Hondo discussing the problems facing filmmakers on the continent. He followed this with his second feature, Zan Boko (1988) which tells the story of a wealthy businessman who takes away ancestral land from a poor village peasant in order to build a swimming pool. The film focuses not only on the conflict of class struggle but also that of tradition and modernity in postcolonial civilization.
Before his next feature Kabore again returned with a short documentary, Madame Hado (1991), about Mrs. Hado, a celebrated Burkinabe singer and dancer. Kabore was then invited to contribute to the BBC's 'Developing Stories', a series of six films by talented filmmakers from the developing world focusing on environmental and developmental issues. He offered _Rabi (1993)_, which won the first prize for young people's films at the Okomedia International Ecological Film Festival. Another mark of Kabore's international recognition was his participation in the film, Lumière and Company (1995) in which 40 directors from around the world were asked to make a short film with the original Cinematographe invented by the Lumiere Brothers. His most recent feature Buud Yam (1997) was the 1997 grand-prize winner of the FESPACO.Burkina Faso- Director
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Souleymane Cissé was born on 21 April 1940 in Bamako, Mali. He is a director and writer, known for Yeelen (1987), Baara (1978) and The Wind (1982).Mali- Editor
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Was raised in Tunisia in a tradition-oriented family. It was in high school, thanks to her philosophy teacher, who ran a film club, that she developed a taste for the cinema. After graduating from the IDHEC film school in 1968, in the editing department, she went back to live in Tunisia in 1972. Her name appears on the credits of some of the most important Arab film from 1970 to 1990.Tunisia- Director
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Abderrahmane Sissako was born on 13 October 1961 in Kiffa, Mauritania. He is a director and writer, known for Timbuktu (2014), Life on Earth (1998) and Waiting for Happiness (2002).Mauritania- Director
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Henry Barakat was born on 11 June 1914 in Cairo, Egypt. He was a director and writer, known for El bab el maftuh (1963), Hasan wa Naimah (1959) and Leilet al quabd al Fatma (1984). He died on 27 May 1997 in Cairo, Egypt.Egypt- Director
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Nacer Khemir was born in 1950 in Korba, Tunisia. He is a director and writer, known for Wanderers of the Desert (1984), The Dove's Lost Necklace (1991) and Bab'Aziz: The Prince That Contemplated His Soul (2005).Tunisia- Director
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Youssef Chahine (born in Alexandria, Egypt, 1926) started studying in a friars' school, and then turned to Victoria College until the High School Certificate. After one year in the University of Alexandria, he moved to the U.S. and spent two years at the Pasadena Play House, taking courses on film and dramatic arts. After coming back to Egypt, cinematographer Alevise Orfanelli helped him into the film business. His film debut was Baba Amin (1950): one year later, with Son of the Nile (1951) he was first invited to the Cannes Film festival. In 1970, he was awarded a Golden Tanit at the Carthage Festival. With Le moineau (1973), he directed the first Egypt-Algeria co-production. He won a Silver Bear in Berlin for Alexandria... Why? (1979), the first installment in what proved to be an autobiographic trilogy, completed with Hadduta Masriya (1982)(An Egyptian Story (1982)) and Alexandria: Again and Forever (1989).
In 1992, Jacques Lassalle proposed him to stage a piece of his choice for Comédie Française: Chahine chose to adapt Albert Camus' "Caligula," which proved hugely successful. The same year he started writing Al-mohager (1994), a story inspired by the Biblical character of Joseph, son of Jacob. This had long been a dream-project, and he finally got to shoot it in 1994. In 1997, 46 years and 5 invitations later, he was again selected Hors Competition in Cannes with Destiny (1997).Egypt- Director
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Jean-Marie Teno, Africa's preeminent documentary filmmaker, has been producing and directing films on the colonial and post-colonial history of Africa for over twenty years. Films by Jean-Marie Teno have been honored at festivals worldwide: Berlin, Toronto, Yamagata, Cinema du Reel, Visions du Reel, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Liepzig, San Francisco, London. In the U.S., many of his films including Africa, je te plumerai; A Trip to the Country; Clando; Chief!; Alex's Wedding; and The Colonial Misunderstanding, have been broadcast and featured at festivals across the country. Teno has been a guest of the Flaherty Seminar, an artist in residence at the Pacific Film Archive of the University of California, Berkeley, and has lectured at numerous universities. Most recently, he was a visiting artist at Amherst College as a 2007-08 Copeland Fellow.Cameroon- Director
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Born in 1945 in San (in Ségou, the 4th region of Mali). Has studied filmmaking at the Ecole Nationale Louis Lumière (National School Louis Lumière), Paris. Worked as filmaker at the Centre National de Production Cinématographique (CNPC) in Mali, when he returned. Has created, with other young Malians, a collective production company: Kora Films.Mali- Director
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Mahamat-Saleh Haroun was born in 1961 in Abéché, Chad. He is a director and writer, known for Dry Season (2006), A Screaming Man (2010) and Our Father (2002).Chad- Director
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Moussa Sene Absa was born in 1958 in Dakar, Senegal. He is a director and writer, known for L'extraordinaire destin de Madame Brouette (2002), Xalé (2022) and Tableau ferraille (1997).Senegal- Actor
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Med Hondo was born on 4 May 1935 in Aïn-Béni-Mathar, Morocco. He was an actor and director, known for Sarraounia (1986), Oh, Sun (1970) and Arabs and Niggers, Your Neighbours (1974). He died on 2 March 2019 in Paris, France.Algeria- Director
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Abdoulaye Ascofare was born on 20 April 1949 in Gao, Mali. He is a director and actor, known for Mother of the Dunes (1997), Zabou, mannequin des sables (2003) and Wamba (1976).Mali- Actor
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Muhammad Camara was born in 1959 in Conakry, Guinea. He is an actor and director, known for Destiny (1997), Denko (1993) and Minka (1994).Guinea- Director
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Ruy Duarte de Carvalho was born on 22 April 1941 in Santarem, Portugal. He is a director and writer, known for Nelisita (1982), O Recado das Ilhas (1989) and Os Papéis do Inglês.Angola- Producer
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Djo Tunda wa Munga was born in 1972 in Kinshasa, DR Congo where he spent his childhood. At the age of 10 he left for Belgium. He studied art school. Later he joined the National Film School of Belgium, INSAS. After completing his studies he returned to Kinshasa where he worked as producer and assistant director for various international TV production (BBC, ARTE, DRTV2).
He produced Congo in Four Acts which was successful as both a training and a production project. He was named the African trailblazer 2010 for MIPTV. His debut feature, VIVA RIVA! premiered at Toronto and Berlin to positive notices from critics and awards bodies alike. It won 6 African movie awards, an MTV award for best African film and has sold widely internationally (US, UK, Australia, France, Germany...)
In 2012, Djo founded his UK-based company to develop international projects and create content for a global market.Democratic Republic of the Congo- Director
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Ralph Ziman was born in 1963 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is a director and writer, known for Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema (2008), The Zookeeper (2001) and Hearts & Minds (1995). He is married to Maria. They have two children.South Africa- Actor
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Gavin Hood was born on 12 May 1963 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is an actor and director, known for Official Secrets (2019), Tsotsi (2005) and Eye in the Sky (2015). He was previously married to Janine Eser.South Africa