Abderrahmane Sissako

Abderrahmane Sissako
Sissako at the 2016 César award
Born	(1961-10-13) 13 October 1961 Kiffa, Mauritania
Nationality	Mauritanian
Occupation	Film director, screenwriter, producer

Abderrahmane Sissako (born 13 October 1961) is a film director and producer who has often worked in Mali and France. Sissako is, along with Ousmane Sembène, Souleymane Cissé, Idrissa Ouedraogo and Djibril Diop Mambety, one of the few filmmakers from Africa to reach a measure of international influence. His film Waiting for Happiness (Heremakono) was screened at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival official selection under Un Certain Regard,^[1] winning the FIPRESCI Prize. His 2007 film Bamako received much attention. Sissako's themes include globalisation, exile and the displacement of people. His 2014 film Timbuktu was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in the main competition section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival^[2] and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.^[3]

Biography

Soon after his birth Sissako's family emigrated to Mali, his father's country, where he completed part of his primary and secondary education. Sissako returned briefly to Mauritania, his mother's land, in 1980. Then he left for Moscow, where he studied cinema at the VGIK (Federal State Film Institute) from 1983 to 1989. Sissako settled in France at the beginning of the 1990s.

Besides his work as a director, he also works as a cultural advisor for Mauritanian head of state Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.^[4]

Filmography

Jury

In addition to feature films and short films, Sissako has served on the jury of the Premiers Plans festival in Angers in January 2007.

• 2000: 53rd Cannes International Film Festival (jury member, Cinéfondation and short films section)
• 2003: 56th Cannes International Film Festival (jury president, Un Certain Regard section)
• 2014: 36th Moscow International Film Festival (jury member, main competition section)
• 2015: 68th Cannes International Film Festival (jury president, Cinéfondation and short films section)

Bibliography

• Thomas Sotinel, « Abderrahmane Sissako. Pour en finir avec le cinéma du Nord », Le Monde, 21 octobre 2006, p. 19
• Samuel Lelièvre, « Les cinémas africains, Abderrahmane Sissako et les frontières du monde », CinémAction, no. 137, 2010, pp. 182–185.

References

External links

• Abderrahmane Sissako at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview: Abderrahmane Sissako with Kwame Anthony Appiah
• Sight and Sound, Film of the Month: Bamako
• A Fragmented Epistemology: The Films of Abderrahmane Sissako
• Sissako YouTube Interview, 2007

César Award for Best Director
	1976 Bertrand Tavernier 1977 Joseph Losey 1978 Alain Resnais 1979 Christian de Chalonge 1980 Roman Polanski 1981 François Truffaut 1982 Jean-Jacques Annaud 1983 Andrzej Wajda 1984 Ettore Scola 1985 Claude Zidi 1986 Michel Deville 1987 Alain Cavalier 1988 Louis Malle 1989 Jean-Jacques Annaud 1990 Bertrand Blier 1991 Jean-Paul Rappeneau 1992 Alain Corneau 1993 Claude Sautet 1994 Alain Resnais 1995 André Téchiné 1996 Claude Sautet 1997 Patrice Leconte / Bertrand Tavernier 1998 Luc Besson 1999 Patrice Chéreau 2000 Tonie Marshall 2001 Dominik Moll 2002 Jean-Pierre Jeunet 2003 Roman Polanski 2004 Denys Arcand 2005 Abdellatif Kechiche 2006 Jacques Audiard 2007 Guillaume Canet 2008 Abdellatif Kechiche 2009 Jean-François Richet 2010 Jacques Audiard 2011 Roman Polanski 2012 Michel Hazanavicius 2013 Michael Haneke 2014 Roman Polanski 2015 Abderrahmane Sissako 2016 Arnaud Desplechin