The Cinema of Chad is small though growing. The first film made in the country appears to have been 1958 John Huston adventure film The Roots of Heaven , filmed when the country was still a part of French Equatorial Africa. [1] Documentary filmmaker Edouard Sailly made a series of shorts in the 1960s depicting daily life in the country. [2] During this period there were a number of cinemas in the country, including in N'Djamena Le Normandie, Le Vogue, the Rio, the Étoile and the Shéherazade, and also the Rex in Sarh, the Logone in Moundou and the Ciné Chachati in Abéché. [3] [4] [5] The film industry suffered severely in the 1970s-80s as Chad became engulfed in a series of civil wars and foreign military interventions; film production stopped, and all the cinemas in Chad closed down. Following the ousting of dictator Hissène Habré by Idriss Déby in 1990 the situation in the country stabilised somewhat, allowing the development of a nascent film industry, most notably with the work of directors Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Issa Serge Coelo and Abakar Chene Massar. [6] [7] Mahamat-Saleh Haroun has won awards at the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou, Venice International Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival. [8] [9] In January 2011 Le Normandie in N'Djamena, said to now be the only cinema in Chad, re-opened with government support. [10] [11]
The following is a sortable list of films produced or shot in Chad. [12] [13]
Year | Title | Director | Genre | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1958 | The Roots of Heaven | John Huston | Drama, action | American film partly shot in Chad |
1960 | Les Tonnes de l'Audace - Mission Ténéré Tchad | René Quinet & Louis Sommet | Documentary | |
1966 | Pêcheurs du Chari | Edouard Sailly | Ethnographic short | English title: Fishers of the Chari |
1966 | Le Lac Tchad | Edouard Sailly | Ethnographic short | English title: Lake Chad |
1966 | Salam el Kebir | Edouard Sailly | Ethnographic short | |
1966 | Les Abattoirs de Forchia | Edouard Sailly | Ethnographic short | English title: The Abattoirs of Forchia |
1966 | Largeau | Edouard Sailly | Ethnographic short | |
1967 | Le Troisième Jour | Edouard Sailly | Drama, short | English title: The Third Day |
1969 | L'Enfant du Tchad | Edouard Sailly | Ethnographic short | English title: The Infant of Chad |
1972 | A la Découverte du Tchad | Edouard Sailly | Ethnographic short | English title: Discovering Chad |
1994 | Maral Tanié | Mahamat-Saleh Haroun | Short | |
1994 | Un Taxi pour Aouzou | Issa Serge Coelo | Drama short | |
1995 | Goï-Goï | Mahamat-Saleh Haroun | Drama short | |
1995 | Dilemme au Féminin | Zara Mahamat Yacoub | TV film | English title: Female Dilemma |
1999 | Bye Bye Africa | Mahamat Saleh Haroun | Drama | |
2000 | Daresalam | Issa Serge Coelo | War Drama | English title: Let There Be Peace |
2002 | Abouna | Mahamat Saleh Haroun | Drama | English title: Our Father |
2005 | Addabache Djay Wara | Abakar Chene Massar | Drama | |
2006 | Daratt | Mahamat Saleh Haroun | Drama | English title: Dry Season |
2006 | DP75: Tartina City | Issa Serge Coelo | Drama | |
2006 | Kalala | Mahamat Saleh Haroun | Documentary | |
2009 | Le Pèlerin de Camp Nou | Abakar Chene Massar | Drama | English title: Captain Majid (a literal translation would be The Pilgrim of Camp Nou) |
2009 | La Deliverance | Richard Hunt | Documentary | |
2010 | A Screaming Man | Mahamat Saleh Haroun | Drama | French title: Un homme qui crie |
2013 | GriGris | Mahamat Saleh Haroun | Drama | |
2015 | Parler de Rose, Prisonnière de Hissène Habré | Isabel Coixet | Documentary | English title: Talking With Rose, Prisoner of Hissène Habré |
2017 | Hissein Habré, une Tragédie Tchadienne | Mahamat Saleh Haroun | Documentary | English title: Hissène Habré, a Chadian Tragedy |
Chad, officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a country at the crossroads of north-central Africa. Chad is a landlocked country bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon to the south-west, Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west. It has a population of 16 million, of which 1.6 million live in the capital and largest city N'Djamena.
Mahamat-Saleh Haroun was born in 1961 in Abéché, Chad. He is a film director from Chad. He left Chad during the civil wars of the 1980s. Haroun is the first Chadian full-length film director. He both writes and directs his films. Though he has lived in France since 1982, most of his films have been set in and made in Chad.
Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh is a Chadian politician and opposition leader who headed the Party for Liberties and Development (PLD).
Bye Bye Africa is a 1999 award-winning Chadian film. It was the first by Chadian director Mahamat Saleh Haroun, who also starred. The docu-drama centers on a fictionalized version of Haroun.
Issa Serge Coelo is a Chadian film director. Born in Biltine, Chad, he studied history in Paris and film at the École supérieure de réalisation audiovisuelle (ÉSRA). He then worked as a cameraman at Métropole Télévision, France 3, TV5MONDE and CFI before creating the 1994 short film Un taxi pour Aouzou. The film was well-received, being nominated for a 1997 César Award in the category Best Short Film - Fiction. This was followed by the feature films Daresalam (2000) and Tartina City (2006). He also portrayed himself in the 1999 film Bye Bye Africa, which was directed by Chad's other prominent director Mahamat Saleh Haroun.
Daresalam is a 2000 dramatic film by Chadian director Issa Serge Coelo. It has been considered one of the very few recent African films that has treated the theme of the internecine conflicts that have ravaged the African continent since independence. While set in a fictional African country called Daresalam, it reflects the civil war that ravaged Chad during the 1960s and 1970s.
DP75: Tartina City is a 2007 dramatic film by Chadian director Issa Serge Coelo, now at his second feature film. The film has won the Innovation Award at the 31st Montreal World Film Festival. While the country where the action is set remains unnamed, the context is that of Chadian history in the 1980s and 1990s. The name's title is taken from the "tartina", a mixture of bread and sheep's bowels served to the prisoners.
Youssouf Djaoro is a Chadian film actor.
Youssouf Saleh Abbas is a Chadian political figure who was Prime Minister of Chad from April 2008 to March 2010. He was previously a diplomatic adviser and special representative of President Idriss Déby.
Renaissance FC or RFC is a football (soccer) club from Chad based in N'Djamena. The club won Chad Premier League 7 times, last time in 2007. Recently, it produced few Chad national football team players, such as Mondésir Alladjim, Yaya Kerim, Esaie Djikoloum and Hassan Diallo.
The Télé Tchad is the national broadcaster of the Central African state of Chad. Télé Tchad currently broadcasts in Arabic and French. It primarily broadcasts news, educational programming, cultural and religious programming, and local sport.
Tourbillon FC is a football (soccer) club from Chad based in N'Djamena. The club has won Chad Premier League title 6 times. The club plays home matches on Stade Omnisports Idriss Mahamat Ouya.
A Screaming Man is a 2010 drama film by Mahamat Saleh Haroun, starring Youssouf Djaoro and Diouc Koma. Set in 2006, it revolves around the civil war in Chad, and tells the story of a man who sends his son to war in order to regain his position at an upscale hotel. Themes of fatherhood and the culture of war are explored. Principal photography took place on location in N'Djamena and Abéché. The film won the Jury Prize at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
GriGris is a 2013 French-Chadian drama film directed by Mahamat Saleh Haroun, starring Soulémane Démé, Mariam Monory, Cyril Guei and Marius Yelolo. It is about a 25-year-old man with a paralysed leg who dreams of becoming a dancer, and starts to work for a gang of petrol smugglers. The film was produced through the French Pili Films with co-production support from the Chadian Goï Goï Productions. It also received support from Canal+, Ciné+, TV5Monde, Canal Horizons and the CNC. Filming started 29 October 2012.
Mahamat Abdoul Kadre Oumar, better known as Baba Laddé is a Chadian Fulani rebel opposing the Chadian regime of Idriss Déby. He is sometimes referred to as Abdel Kader Baba Laddé.
Zara Mahamat Yacoub is a Chadian filmmaker, director and journalist.
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The Transitional Military Council is the ruling military junta in Chad. It announced the death of former President Idriss Déby on 20 April 2021, and declared that it would take charge of the government of Chad and continue hostilities against FACT rebels in the north of the country. It is chaired by Mahamat Idriss Déby, the son of the late President, making him the de facto President of Chad.