The Most Famous
FILM DIRECTORS from Senegal
This page contains a list of the greatest Senegalese Film Directors. The pantheon dataset contains 2,041 Film Directors, 2 of which were born in Senegal. This makes Senegal the birth place of the 56th most number of Film Directors behind Malaysia, and Montenegro.
Top 2
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Senegalese Film Directors of all time. This list of famous Senegalese Film Directors is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Ousmane Sembène (1923 - 2007)
With an HPI of 58.22, Ousmane Sembène is the most famous Senegalese Film Director. His biography has been translated into 41 different languages on wikipedia.
Ousmane Sembène (French: [usman sɑ̃bɛn]; 1 January 1923 or 8 January 1923 – 9 June 2007), often credited in the French style as Sembène Ousmane which he seemed to favor as a way to underscore the "colonial imposition" of this naming ritual and subvert it, was a Senegalese film director, producer and writer. The Los Angeles Times considered him one of the greatest authors of Africa and he has often been called the "father of African film". Descended from a Serer family through his mother from the line of Matar Sène, Ousmane Sembène was particularly drawn to Serer religious festivals especially the Tuur festival.
2. Safi Faye (1943 - 2023)
With an HPI of 47.76, Safi Faye is the 2nd most famous Senegalese Film Director. Her biography has been translated into 21 different languages.
Safi Faye (November 22, 1943 – February 22, 2023) was a Senegalese film director and ethnologist. She was the first Sub-Saharan African woman to direct a commercially distributed feature film, Kaddu Beykat, which was released in 1975. She has directed several documentary and fiction films focusing on rural life in Senegal.
People
Pantheon has 2 people classified as Senegalese film directors born between 1923 and 1943. Of these 2, none of them are still alive today. The most famous deceased Senegalese film directors include Ousmane Sembène, and Safi Faye.
