FILM DIRECTOR

Safi Faye

1943 - 2023

Photo of Safi Faye

Icon of person Safi Faye

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. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Safi Faye has received more than 50,604 page views. Her biography is available in 21 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 18 in 2019). Safi Faye is the 1,058th most popular film director (up from 1,350th in 2019), the 22nd most popular biography from Senegal (up from 32nd in 2019) and the 2nd most popular Senegalese Film Director.

Memorability Metrics

  • 51k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 47.76

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 21

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 5.36

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 2.22

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among FILM DIRECTORS

Among film directors, Safi Faye ranks 1,058 out of 2,041. Before her are Richard Dembo, Fyodor Bondarchuk, Zalman King, John Seale, Kihachi Okamoto, and Richard Williams. After her are Cameron Crowe, Nina Companeez, Tian Zhuangzhuang, Frank Beyer, Gunnar Fischer, and Rafael Azcona.

Most Popular Film Directors in Wikipedia

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1943, Safi Faye ranks 468. Before her are Christopher Cazenove, Borislav Paravac, Urszula Dudziak, Lasse Holm, Marilynne Robinson, and Elizabeth Hartman. After her are Hélène Vincent, Pat Barker, Burt Rutan, Charles H. Bennett, Steve Miller, and Ron Geesin. Among people deceased in 2023, Safi Faye ranks 432. Before her are Anita Thallaug, Lucy Salani, Dmytro Pavlychko, Rona Hartner, Georges Bereta, and Paolo Portoghesi. After her are Mudar Badran, Anfisa Reztsova, Nikica Valentić, John Romita Sr., Sara Tavares, and Gary Rossington.

Others Born in 1943

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Others Deceased in 2023

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In Senegal

Among people born in Senegal, Safi Faye ranks 22 out of 138. Before her are Amadou-Mahtar M'Bow (1921), Aliou Cissé (1976), Papa Bouba Diop (1978), Mame Madior Boye (1940), Mamadou Dia (1910), and Ba Mamadou Mbaré (1946). After her are Théodore-Adrien Sarr (1936), El Hadji Diouf (1981), Aminata Sow Fall (1941), Ibrahim Ba (1973), Didier Raoult (1952), and Habib Thiam (1933).

Others born in Senegal

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Among FILM DIRECTORS In Senegal

Among film directors born in Senegal, Safi Faye ranks 2. Before her are Ousmane Sembène (1923).

Senegalese born Film Directors

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Filmography

Mossane
Director
A beautiful 14-year-old girl has just reached marriageable age in a village in Senegal. She has many suitors; however, she is in love a poor student who has returned to the village while the university is on strike. At birth, she had been promised in marriage to Diogoye, who went away to work in France. Diogoye, who supplied her parents with many things over the years, has now sent a dowry, and asked that she be married to him in the village in his absence; she would then be sent to France.
May 18th 19966.6 / 10
Come and Work
Director
The story of a Serer village in the groundnut basin of Senegal. Using the words of their ancestors passed on by oral folklore, the villagers trace the history of their village and their difficulties in working their land and living off their produce. Fad'jal is an extraordinary boundary defying film that interweaves ethnographic footage, intimate observation of everyday village life and fictionalised historical scenes. With it, Faye carefully encourages the viewers to reflect both on African history and storytelling, and on the intersection of fiction and documentary.
Jan 2nd 19795.2 / 10
Letter from My Village
Director
Ngor is a young man living in a Senegalese village who wishes to marry Coumba. Ongoing drought in the village has affected its crop of groundnuts and as a result, Ngor cannot afford the bride price for Coumba. He goes to Senegal's capital city, Dakar, to try to earn more money and is exploited there. He returns to the villagers and shares his experiences of the city with the other men. The story, which shows the daily lives of the villagers, is told in the form of a letter to a friend from a villager, voiced by Faye.
Jan 2nd 19768 / 10