Samba Gadjigo, writer, producer and director, is the world's foremost expert on the career of Ousmane Sembène. He was the official biographer of the late filmmaker, and acted as Sembène’s agent in the United States. Born and raised in Senegal, Gadjigo was educated at the University of Dakar and the École Normale Supérieure, also in Dakar, and received his PhD from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His dissertation, published in 1990, analyzed representations of the French system of schooling in West Africa. In addition to having written and edited several books, he frequently contributes articles about French and francophone African literature and film. In 1986, Samba Gadjigo joined the faculty of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass., is former chair of the French Department and member of the African American and African Studies departments. Gadjigo has lectured widely on Sembène and on African cinema, literature and culture at institutions including Harvard and Brown universities. He is director of The Making of Moolaadé, a documentary that was shown at film festivals and is available on the DVD of Sembène's award-winning film Moolaadé. He is also the co-director of the 2015 documentary, SEMBENE!, profiling the African freedom fighter and "father of African cinema." Learn More
