Samba Gadjigo | |
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Born | Samba Gadjigo October 12, 1954 |
Nationality | Senegalese |
Alma mater | University of Dakar Ecole Normale Supérieure de Dakar University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
Occupation(s) | Director, producer, screenwriter, lecturer |
Years active | 1986–present |
Samba Gadjigo (born 12 October 1954), is a Senegalese filmmaker and writer. [1] He is most notable as the director of critically acclaimed film Sembene!. [2]
He was born on 12 October 1954 in Kidira, Senegal. He graduated from the University of Dakar and Ecole Normale Supérieure de Dakar. Then he received his PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He currently works as the Professor of French in Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts since 1986. [3]
In 2015, he directed the film Sembene! along with Jason Silverman. [4] The film was based on the life of Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène often known as the father of African cinema. The film had its first public screening at Sundance Film Festival in Utah. [2] The film received critical acclaim [5] [6] and won several awards and accolades at international film festivals. [7] The film was a finalist for the Camera d’Or in the 2015 Cannes Film Festival [8] as well as won the Jury Prize at the 2016 Luxor African Film Festival. It also won the Prix de la Jeuness at the 2017 Escales Documentaires de Libreville and then won the Paul Robeson Prize at the 2016 Newark Black Film Festival. The film later received the Prize for Best Documentary at the Emerge Film Festival. [1]
In 2016, Gadjigo received the Faculty Award for Scholarship. Apart from filmmaking, he is also a prolific author and contributed with African Cinema and Human Rights, Research in African Literatures, and Contributions in Black Studies. [1] In March 2016, he was honored with Meribeth E. Cameron Faculty Award for Scholarship from Mount Holyoke College. [9]
Year | Film | Role | Genre | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | Sembene! | Director, producer, writer | Documentary |
Ousmane Sembène, often credited in the French style as Sembène Ousmane which he seemed to favor as a way to underscore the "colonial imposition" of this naming ritual and subvert it, was a Senegalese film director, producer and writer. The Los Angeles Times considered him one of the greatest authors of Africa and he has often been called the "father of African film". Descended from a Serer family through his mother from the line of Matar Sène, Ousmane Sembène was particularly drawn to Serer religious festivals especially the Tuur festival.
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Djibril Diop Mambéty was a Senegalese film director, actor, orator, composer and poet. Though he made only two feature films and five short films, they received international acclaim for their original and experimental cinematic technique and non-linear, unconventional narrative style.
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Mandabi is a 1968 film written and directed by Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène. The film is based on Sembène's novel The Money-Order and is the director's first film in his native Wolof language. Since most of the Senegalese population do not understand French, Sembène wanted to create cinema for Wolof speakers. This is believed to be the first full-length African language film from West Africa.
Ben Diogaye Bèye is a Senegalese filmwriter, filmmaker, film producer and journalist. He was the assistant director of nearly a dozen Senegalese films, including Touki Bouki with Djibril Diop Mambety, Baks with Momar Thiam, Sarah et Marjama with Axel Lohman, and the co-screenwriter of the latter two.
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The Pirogue is a 2012 Senegalese drama film directed by Moussa Touré. The film follows a fisherman, Baya Leye, sailing a group of Senegalese immigrants sailing to Spain. The film competed in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.
Camp de Thiaroye is a 1988 Senegalese war-drama film written and directed by Ousmane Sembène and Thierno Faty Sow.
Sembene! is a 2015 documentary film focusing on the life of Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène, who is considered to be the father of African cinema. It is co-directed by Samba Gadjigo and Jason Silverman. The film's world premiere took place at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2015. It also played at the Cannes Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival.
Atlantics is a 2019 internationally co-produced supernatural romantic drama film directed by Mati Diop, in her feature directorial debut. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. Diop made history when the film premiered at Cannes, becoming the first Black woman to direct a film featured in competition at the festival.
Ousmane William Mbaye, is a Senegalese filmmaker. Mbaye is best known as the director of the critically acclaim documentary Mère-Bi and films Doomi Ngacc, Fresque and Kemtiyu, Cheikh Anta. Apart from filmmaking, he is also an executive producer, line producer, screenwriter, foreign producer, director of photography, sound recordist, production manager, editor, and producer.
Diankou Sembene, is a Sénégalese actor. He is best known for the role as 'Mr. Ndiaye' in the supernatural romantic drama film Atlantics.
Samba Félix N’diaye, was a Sénégalese filmmaker. One of the early pillars in Senegalese cinema industry, Ndiaye is regarded as the father of the African documentary. He made several critically acclaimed Documentary shorts Trésors des poubelles, Ngor, l'esprit des lieux, Les malles and Geti Tey. Apart from direction, he is also a writer and cinematographer.
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