Trailblazer of African cinema was the winner of the jury’s prize on the 1987 Cannes Movie Competition for his movie, Yeelen.
Mali’s extremely acclaimed director Souleymane Cisse, who is taken into account one of many pillars of African cinema, has died at age 84.
His daughter introduced that Cisse died on Wednesday, leaving a trailblazing legacy on the silver display screen spanning half a century that was marked by a dedication to African storytelling, deep humanism and profound political engagement.
“Papa died right this moment in Bamako. We’re all in shock. He devoted all his life to his nation, to cinema and to artwork,” Mariam Cisse mentioned.
Cisse gained the jury’s prize on the 1987 Cannes Movie Competition for “Yeelen” (“Brightness”), which pulls on legends from west Africa’s Bambara folks.
In 2023, Cannes honoured him once more with the Carrosse d’Or, an award given to administrators who’ve “marked the historical past of cinema with their boldness, their exacting requirements and their intransigence in staging”.
That award was stolen from his residence in 2024, earlier than being discovered once more.
❤️ Remembering Souleymane Cissé (1940-2025), one among cinema’s greats identified for catapulting African movie to the world stage along with his characteristic YEELEN, which gained the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes in 1987 and have become the primary African film to be awarded on the pageant. pic.twitter.com/jYPzT0vdN3
— Movie at Lincoln Middle (@FilmLinc) February 19, 2025
Fellow Malian director Boubacar Sidibe mentioned in a message on Fb that the Sahel nation’s movie business was in “mourning”, whereas Minister of Tradition Mamou Daffe lamented the loss “of this monument of African cinema”.
The Movie at Lincoln Middle non-profit additionally praised Cisse as “one among cinema’s greats”, citing his work, Yeelen, for “catapulting African movie to the world stage”.
‘If God wills it’
Cisse is one among two solely filmmakers to have twice gained the grand prize at Burkina Faso’s Panafrican Movie and Tv Competition (FESPACO), among the many largest and most prestigious in Africa.
He was as a result of board a aircraft on Thursday to Burkina Faso capital’s Ouagadougou to go the twenty ninth version of the pageant’s options jury from February 22.
Souleymane Cissé (April 21, 1940 to February 19, 2025). At 84 years previous, and as one of many final dwelling pioneers of African cinema, his presence was a useful hyperlink to the continent’s cultural historical past.
To really honor Cissé’s legacy is to know his physique of labor as an… pic.twitter.com/4XXyuQATMA
— Akoroko — African Cinema Now! (@akorokoafrica) February 19, 2025
In his 2023 Cannes interview with the AFP information company, he criticised the “censorship” and “contempt” that he mentioned prevented African movies being distributed world wide.
Even on the day of his loss of life, he urged the navy leaders in Mali – which declared 2025 a 12 months of tradition – to assist the nation’s business meet up with its continental rivals.
“It’s not sufficient to make cinema; the works should even be seen. Could the authorities assist us with the development of cinemas,” he instructed a information convention on Wednesday morning. “That is the attraction I make to them earlier than my loss of life, if God wills it.”
