Senegalese filmmaker Ben Diogaye Bèye speaks about the emotions and dreams of the children, their representation of hope for the future, in spite of the poverty and societal problems rooted in colonization and globalization that afflict Senegal and other developing countries.

Interview conducted by Mamadou Niang. New York, 2007

Bèye, Ben Diogaye

Ben Diogaye Bèye, one of the pioneers of Senegalese cinema, is both a writer and filmmaker. He did his film training in Paris, and apprenticed with noted Senegalese filmmakers such as Ousmane Sembène, Ababacar Samb and Djibril Diop Mambéty. He was an assistant director on several Senegalese and foreign films, notably Touki Bouki, by Mambéty, Baks by Momar Thiam, Sarah et Marjama by Axel Lohman, and was co-writer of the latter two. Bèye is best known for his earliest film, Les Princes Noirs de Saint Germain-des-Près (1972). His second film, Samba Tali won the prize for Best Short Film at the International Film Festival of the French-speaking Ensemble in Geneva in 1975 and the Tanit d'Or for Best Short Film at Carthage Film Festival in Tunisia in 1976. Later works include Un Homme Des Femmes (1983), which received an honorable mention at the Locarno International Film Festival in 1980, and the Prix de la Commune at the Pan-African Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) in 1981, and Moytuleen (1996). His 2004 film, Un Amour d’Enfant (A Childhood Love), looks at the trials and tribulations of childhood relationships. Ben Diogaye also researched and wrote the original script of Thiaroye '44, a project directed later as Camp de Thiaroye by Sembène and Thierno Faty Sow. He is an active member and leader in the Association of Senegalese Filmmakers. Learn More