Senegal / 2002 / 28mins / Documentary / Wolof

Senegalese director Djibril Diop Mambéty, one of the greatest figures in all of African film, died in 1998. In this behind-the-scenes documentary, shot during the making of his final work, The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun / La petite vendeuse de soleil, Mambéty speaks with his technicians, prepares the actors, talks with his young star, and, in voiceover, shares his thoughts on cinema and life.Mambéty doesn't differ significantly from the stock "behind-the-scenes" documentaries that adorn most DVDs nowadays, except that Mambéty's films have scenes you actually want to be taken behind. Because of the kind of attention that gets paid to African cinema, there's an initial intrigue to Mambéty, but that interest is sustained by Mambéty's own lyrical insights into his aesthetics.

Papa Madièye Mbaye

Born in Senegal in 1958, Papa Madièye Mbaye studied Natural Sciences at the Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar and Baskets and photography at the Centre Culturel Francais of Dakar. Between 1993 and 1999, he worked as a cameraman in several documentary films and television adverts. He was also an assistant director on various films, including Hyenes (1991), La Petite vendeuse de soleil (1997), where he also acts, both by Djibril Diop Mambety, and S’en sortir (2000) by Racine Talla. Mambety was his first film in 2002. Learn More