Souleymane Cissé (1940-2025)

Malian director and writer Souleymane Cissé passed away on 19 February in Bamako, Mali, at the age of 84. With his film Yeelen [Brightness], he became the first Black African filmmaker to win the Prix du Jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1987. During his life, he was often referred to as “Africa's greatest living filmmaker”.

Yasmina Price: Many of your films deal with the friction and negotiations between generations. Could you say more about how you conceive of the generational relay within African filmmaking, between your generation of filmmakers and the ones working now?

Souleymane Cissé: The connection between generations of filmmakers is simply cinema: the young people making beautiful films, which speak to us and help us soar – and there are some in Mali, albeit not many. These younger filmmakers are able to dream by way of cinema, but when they stop dreaming, then comes the monotony, and it is no longer worth it. Even without having adequate resources, it is essential to use the camera to keep imagining. It is difficult to break out, and while some manage, many do not. But I hope this new generation, this potential firestorm of young filmmakers, can circulate around the world with the quality of their images, on our shoulders. Ultimately, tradition is the source of modernity. If you are not grounded in a tradition, in previous generations, then you have no path forward. This reminder is my fight. The future is created from what already exists. For me, cinema is a weapon. An effective weapon. A weapon that can in reality unify, a weapon that can offer a new spirit to people, and that is its strength. Cinema is the thing best positioned to awaken us all into a fuller way of being and living. This is why it’s so important for us.

Souleymane Cissé in conversation with Yasmina Price1

• 1Yasmina Price, “Souleymane Cissé: The Work, the Wind, and the Light,” MUBI Notebook, 17 May 2023.