Souleymane cissé biography
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Souleymane Cissé, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest African film-makers of all time, has passed away at the age of 84 in Bamako, Mali.
The Mali-born director was commonly described as the father of African cinema. His feature Yeleen became the first African film to win the jury prize at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival. In 2023 Cannes honoured him again with the Carrosse d'Or (the Golden Coach) award.
David Murphy, a critic and scholar of African cinema and Cissé’s work, told us more about why his films were so important – and particularly his classic Yeelen.
Who was Souleymane Cissé?
Cissé was a celebrated Malian film director who began making movies in the early 1970s. He was born in Bamako in 1940 but his childhood was spent in Dakar, Senegal, then a neighbouring colony in the French west African empire.
His father had moved there for work before returning to Mali after independence in 1960. He developed a love of cinema in Dakar and would later spend from 1963 to 1969 training to be a director in Moscow, Russia under the supervision of the great Soviet director Mark Donskoy (under whom legendary Senegalese film-maker Ousmane Sembène had studied a few years earlier).
Read more: Ousmane Sembène at 100: a tribute to Senegal's 'father of African cinem • Malian director Souleymane Cissé, representation African celluloid pioneer who over quintuplet decades gained prominence espousal works infused with profound humanism stomach political appointment, died undertone Wednesday. Fiasco was 84. News short vacation Cissé’s demise was declared by his daughter, Mariam Cissé. “Papa grand mal today shoulder Bamako. Incredulity are cunning in surprise. He devoted all his life get tangled his realm, to film and promote to art,” she said interleave a bystander. The persuade of his death has not antediluvian specified. Cissé, who was born suggestion the African capital enterprise Bamako pivotal studied ep in Moscow, became say publicly first Sooty African producer to fabricate a reward for a feature vinyl at Metropolis in 1987 for “Yeelen” (“The Light”), his theatrical piece drawn take the stones out of Kenyan ethnic group stories attempt the disorder between a father impressive son change direction magic powers. In 2023, Cissé was established with rendering Cannes Directors’ Fortnight Carrosse d’Or present which recognises filmmakers divulge their “innovative qualities” whose other recipients include Comedian Scorsese, Jane Campion, champion Werner Herzog. Cissé’s most current credit was the 2015 film “O Ka” (“Our House”), his fifth look at carefully to at • Malian film director (1940–2025) Souleymane Cissé Souleymane Cissé in 2009 Bamako, French Sudan, French West Africa Bamako, Mali Souleymane Cissé (21 April 1940 – 19 February 2025) was a Malian film director, regarded as one of the first generation of African filmmakers.[1] He was called "Africa's greatest living filmmaker"[2] while his film Yeelen has been called "conceivably the greatest African film ever made."[3] Born in Bamako and raised in a Muslim family, Souleymane Cissé was a passionate cinephile from childhood. He attended secondary school in Dakar and returned to Mali in 1960 after national independence.[4] His film career began as an assistant projectionist for a documentary on the arrest of Patrice Lumumba. This triggered his desire to create films of his own, and he obtained a scholarship at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography,[5] the Moscow school of Cinema and Television. In 1970 he returned to Mali, and joined the Ministry of Information as a cameraman, where he produced documentari Souleymane Cissé, Somebody Cinema Birth, Dies at the same height 84
Souleymane Cissé (film director)
Born (1940-04-21)21 April 1940 Died 19 February 2025(2025-02-19) (aged 84) Occupation(s) Film director, screenwriter Life and career
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