*Sayed Fouad: She’s been selected as a member of the jury, and we’ll pay tribute for her lifetime achievements and contributions to African cinema.
Screenwriter Sayed Fouad, president of Luxor African Film Festival, announced that the festival’s management has chosen the African star Maimouna N'Diaye to be paid tribute during the 9th edition of the festival for her lifetime achievements and contributions to African cinema, as well as being a member of the jury for the long narrative competition.
Director Azza El Hosseiny, director of LAFF, added: Maimouna is one of the most prominent stars in African cinema, and one of the most talented actresses in the continent, she gained recognition for her role in “Eye of the Storm”, and was the only African member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival’s official competition, and she’s a multi-talented star, for she’s an amazing actress in France and Africa, as well as a documentary and narrative film director, and a social activist, especially for the issues of women and children.
Maimouna was born in France to Senegalese father, she grew up in Guinea before returning to France to study medicine at 18 years old, and that’s where she was attracted to theatre and studied performing arts at Le Sorbonne, where she studied further into the field. Her real breakout in the world of theatre started in Côte d'Ivoire, where she joined the Yamako Tatary Company in 1995, a company that has a clear mission of spreading awareness towards health and social issues. She acted on stage and in film in Côte d'Ivoire for 10 years, before starting her career as a documentary director. She moved to Burkina Faso in 2005 where she continued her work in the field of theatre before breaking into film in Senegal, Guinea and Burkina Faso.
Of her prominent plays “Butterfly Chasers” in 1992, “A Garden in Autumn” in 2005, “Movement” in 1997, “High School or Marriage”, as well as many short films including “A Plate of Love”, and a very prominent role in the film “Eye of the Storm”, which won many awards at FESPACO 2015, she was awarded the best actress for that film, and she voiced a character in the French animation film “Kirikou and the Sorceress” in 1998, which was translated to various languages including Japanese, and it gained over 20 awards from around the world, she has made several documentaries that are very prominent in her career including “Warbassaga” which covered the life of the Ivoirian Dancer “Warbassaga”, as well as “Slices of Life” in 2008, which portrayed different characters and images of the tragedies in Côte d'Ivoire between 2002 – 2004, she also directed the opening ceremony of the FESPACO in 2009.
LAFF management also assured that there’s a surprise of an international super star who will attend the festival this year, and he will be announced during the upcoming press conference at the end of February.
