Djibril Diop Mambéty

Senegalese filmmaker, actor, poet, orator and musician (23 January 1945, Colobane, Dakar — 23 July 1998, Paris, France). Despite only directing two feature-length films and several shorts, Djibril Diop Mambéty is considered among the century's most influential African film directors and gained international acclaim for his experimental cinematographic techniques and unconventional, non-linear narratives. Mambéty was an ethnic Wolof (West African people found in Senegal, Gambia, and partially Mauritania). His younger brother, Wasis Diop (b. 1950), is a renowned musician and singer. Mambety began his career as an actor at Théâtre National Daniel Sorano in Dakar, departing in the late 1960s to focus on filming and directing. In 1973, Djibril presented his debut feature-length drama, Touki Bouki (or "The Journey of the Hyena"), winning International Critics Award at Cannes Film Festival and Special Jury Prize at the 8th Moscow International Film Festival. It was the director's first international appearance, and he also screened a few of his earlier shorts at Cannes the same year. Despite an overwhelming international success, Djibril Diop Mambéty continued working very selectively and slowly. He picked the camera again over 15 years later, directing Parlons grand-mère (1989), a 30-min documentary on the filming of Idrissa Ouédraogo's movie "Yaaba." In 1992, Mambéty returned with his second and last feature-length film, Hyènes, a conceptual sequel to Touki Bouki based on the adapted Friedrich Dürrenmatt's play. The movie was nominated for Palme d'Or at Cannes and won the Special Jury Prize at Chicago International Film Festival. In 1994, Djibril Diop presented Le Franc, the first in his unfinished trilogy of short films, "Tales of the Little People." He died from lung cancer in a Paris hospital, aged 53, while editing the second part. Called La Petite Vendeuse de Soleil, it came out posthumously in 1999 and won over nine awards at various European and American film festivals.