The Most Famous
FILM DIRECTORS from Mauritania
This page contains a list of the greatest Mauritanian Film Directors. The pantheon dataset contains 1,581 Film Directors, 2 of which were born in Mauritania. This makes Mauritania the birth place of the 60th most number of Film Directors behind Monaco and Azerbaijan.
Top 2
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Mauritanian Film Directors of all time. This list of famous Mauritanian Film Directors is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Med Hondo (1936 - 2019)
With an HPI of 46.95, Med Hondo is the most famous Mauritanian Film Director. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages on wikipedia.
Med Hondo (born Mohamed Abid; 4 May 1935 – 2 March 2019) was a Mauritanian-born French director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. Considered a founding father of African cinema, he is known for his controversial films dealing with issues such as race relations and colonization. His critically acclaimed 1970 directorial début feature, Soleil O, received the Golden Leopard award at the 1970 Locarno International Film Festival and was chosen in 2019 by the African Film Heritage Project for restoration. His 1979 film West Indies was the first African film musical and, at $1.3 million, the most expensive production in African film history. In his later years, Hondo became known for dubbing Hollywood hits that included Shrek, The Lion King, The Nutty Professor, and Se7en.
2. Abderrahmane Sissako (1961 - )
With an HPI of 44.58, Abderrahmane Sissako is the 2nd most famous Mauritanian Film Director. His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.
Abderrahmane Sissako (Arabic: عبد الرحمن سيساكو; born 13 October 1961) is a Mauritanian-born Malian film director and producer. His film Waiting for Happiness (Heremakono) was screened at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival official selection under Un Certain Regard, winning a FIPRESCI Prize. His 2006 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 and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Pantheon has 2 people classified as film directors born between 1936 and 1961. Of these 2, 1 (50.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living film directors include Abderrahmane Sissako. The most famous deceased film directors include Med Hondo.
