Film de souleymane cisse biography
10 Things To Know About Great Malian Filmmaker Souleymane Cisse
Souleymane Cissé passed on last week in Bamako, Mali. He was 84. “Papa died today in Bamako. We are all in shock. He dedicated all his life to his country, to cinema and to art,” his daughter Mariam Cissé, said, confirming his death.
Cissé was a film writer, producer and director, and his filmography includes films such as Cinq jours d’une vie, Den muso, Baara, Finye, Yeelen, Waati, L’aspirant, Source d’inspiration, Dégal à Dialloubé, Fête du Sanké, L’homme et ses idoles, Chanteurs traditionnels des Iles Seychelles, and Tell Me Who You Are.
Here are 10 things to know about the great Malian filmmaker’s life, career, and legacy.
1. Cissé Worked on the Documentary of Congolese Leader Patrice Lumumba
Souleymane Cissé was born on 21 April 1940 in Bamako, Mali. He was raised in a Muslim family, and attended secondary school in Dakar, while returning to Mali in 1960 after national independence.
He developed an interest in cinema from a young age, and worked as an assistant projectionist on a documentary covering the arrest of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba.
After this, he developed a passion for filmmaking and went on to study filmmaking in Russia during the Soviet Union.
2. He Studied Filmmaking in the Soviet Union
In the early 1960s, Cissé received a scholarship to study at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, the Moscow school of Cinema and Television.
While in Moscow, he developed the filmmaking skills. And after school, he returned to Mali in 1970, where he began working for the Ministry of Information as a cameraman producing documentaries and short films.
In 1972, he produced his first medium-length film, Cinq jours d’une vie (Five Days in a Life), which tells the story of a young Qur’anic school dropout who becomes a petty thief. The film premiered at the Carthage Film Festival.
3. His First Feature Film Led to His Arrest
After Cinq jours d’une vie (Five Malian director Souleymane Cissé, the African cinema pioneer who over five decades gained prominence for works infused with deep humanism and political engagement, died on Wednesday. He was 84. News of Cissé’s death was announced by his daughter, Mariam Cissé. “Papa died today in Bamako. We are all in shock. He dedicated all his life to his country, to cinema and to art,” she said in a statement. The cause of his death has not been specified. Cissé, who was born in the Malian capital of Bamako and studied film in Moscow, became the first Black African filmmaker to win a prize for a feature film at Cannes in 1987 for “Yeelen” (“The Light”), his drama drawn from Kenyan folk stories about the conflict between a father and son over magic powers. In 2023, Cissé was honored with the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight Carrosse d’Or award which recognises filmmakers for their “innovative qualities” whose other recipients include Martin Scorsese, Jane Campion, and Werner Herzog. Cissé’s most recent credit was the 2015 film “O Ka” (“Our House”), his fifth work to premiere at Cannes. The drama recreates actual 2008 events that led to Cissé’s four sisters being kicked out of their home since childhood by police officers after another family forged ownership papers and bribed a judge. Cissé is one of only two directors to have twice won the grand prize at Burkina Faso’s preeminent Panafrican Film and Television Festival (FESPACO). He was due to fly to Burkina Faso capital’s Ouagadougou on Thursday to preside over the 29th edition of the festival’s main jury. News of Cissé’s death elicited an outpour of tributes. Mali’s Minister of Culture Mamou Daffe lamented the loss “of this monument of A 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. He was called "Africa's greatest living filmmaker" while his film Yeelen has been called "conceivably the greatest African film ever made." 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. 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, 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 documentaries and short films. Two years later, he produced his first medium-length film, Cinq jours d’une vie (Five Days in a Life), which tells the story of a young man who drops out of a Qur'anic school and becomes a petty thief living on the street. Cinq Jours premiered at the Carthage Film Festival. In 1974, Cissé produced his first full-length film in the Bambara language, Den muso (The Girl), the story of a young mute girl who has been raped. The girl becomes pregnant, and is rejected both by her family and by the child's father. Den muso was banned by the Malian Minister of Culture, and Cissé was arrested and jailed for the dubious charge of accepting French funding. Cissé would never k . Souleymane Cissé, African Cinema Pioneer, Dies at 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