FILM DIRECTORS from Senegal

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 64.02, 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), 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". He was often credited for his work 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. Descended from a Serer family through his mother from the line of Matar Sène, Ousmane Sembène was particularly drawn to Serer religious festivals. He especially was intrigued by the Tuur festival.

2. Safi Faye (1943 - 2023)

With an HPI of 54.82, 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.