Tributes Roll in for Pioneer of African Cinema, Souleymane Cissé

Tributes are pouring out in honor of the iconic Malian filmmaker Souleymane Cissé, who hasjust passed away. “Papa died in Bamako today,” his daughter Mariam Cissé told the press on Wednesday, February 19. “We are all in shock. He dedicated all his life to his country, to cinema and art.”

Cissé is widely considered one of the fathers of modern African cinema. His fourth feature film, Yeelen, remains an enduring masterpiece; it won the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1987, the first African film to achieve that feat, and has beendescribed as “conceivably the greatest African film ever made.”

Yeelen (The Light) is a coming-of-age film based on a myth in Bambara culture, where a young man sets out to hone his magical powers, a move that antagonizes his father, who believes in a vision that his son will be the cause of his death. Majestically shot, the film’s timeless quality is evident in its use of scenery, magical realism elements, and an immersive plot.

Before his magnum opus, Cissé directedDen Muso (The Girl), his moving debut film about a mute girl who had been sexually assaulted, as well asBaara (Work) andFinyé (Wind), both winners of the Étalon d’or de Yennenga, the highest prize at the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (Fespaco). He would havechaired the fiction feature film jury at this year’s Fespaco, scheduled to begin this weekend.

At the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, he was awarded the Carrosse d’Or, or Golden Coach Award, which honors filmmakers showcasing “innovative qualities, courage, and independent-mindedness.”

Author and critic David Heringcalled Cissé “a titan of cinema,” and film critic Wilfrid Okichie referred to him as a “giant, pioneer and maestro of cinema.”