Safi Faye facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Safi Faye
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| Born | November 22, 1943 |
| Died | February 22, 2023 (aged 79) |
| Nationality | Senegalese |
| Education | École normal de Rufisque, University of Paris |
| Occupation | Film director, ethnologist |
| Years active | 1972–2023 |
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Notable work
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Kaddu Beykat, Mossane |
| Children | 1 |
| Awards | Un Certain Regard |
Safi Faye (born November 22, 1943 – died February 22, 2023) was a Senegalese film director. She was also an ethnologist, which means she studied different cultures and peoples. Safi Faye made history as the first woman from Sub-Saharan Africa to direct a feature film that was shown widely. This film was called Kaddu Beykat, and it came out in 1975. She directed many films, both documentaries and fiction stories, often focusing on daily life in rural Senegal.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Safi Faye was born in 1943 in Dakar, Senegal. Her family, the Fayes, were from a village called Fad'jal, south of Dakar. She went to the Normal School in Rufisque. After getting her teaching certificate around 1962 or 1963, she started teaching in Dakar.
In 1966, she went to the Dakar Festival of Negro Arts. There, she met a French expert in cultures and filmmaker named Jean Rouch. He encouraged her to use filmmaking to study cultures. She even acted in his 1971 film Petit à petit. Faye later said she didn't really like Rouch's film. However, working with him taught her a lot about making movies.
In the 1970s, she studied ethnology in Paris. She also studied at the Lumière Film School. To support herself, she worked as a model, an actor, and helped with film sound effects. In 1979, she earned a special degree called a PhD in ethnology from the University of Paris. She continued her studies in Berlin and Paris, getting another degree in ethnology in 1988.
Filmmaking Style and Focus
A film expert named Janaína Oliveira once wrote about Safi Faye's work. She said that Faye always wanted to speak about her community. More importantly, she wanted to speak for her community and with her community. This idea guided her studies and her use of cinema.
Most of Safi Faye's films, whether documentaries or fictional stories, focus a lot on the lives and challenges of women in rural Africa. However, she explained that her films are not only about women. She said, "Women alone cannot live in Africa. Women live in a community, and I cannot eliminate the community." This means her films show women as part of their whole community.
Faye's first film as a director was a short movie in 1972. It was called La Passante (The Passerby). This film was based on her own experiences as a foreign woman in Paris. It shows a woman walking down a street and how men react to her. After this, she made Revanche in 1973 with other students in Paris.
Her first feature film was Kaddu Beykat (1975). This title means The Voice of the Peasant in the Wolof language. It was also known as Letter from My Village or News from My Village around the world.
In 1979, she made Fad'jal. This film was an ethnographic work. It explored the history of her home village.
Faye's 1983 documentary film Selbe: One Among Many tells the story of Selbé, a 39-year-old woman. Selbé works hard to support her eight children. Her husband has left their village to find work. Selbé often talks with Faye, who is not seen on screen. She shares details about her life and her relationship with her husband.
Her last feature film was released in 1996. It was called Mossane. This film is in the Wolof language. It won the Un Certain Regard prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
Prominent Works
Kaddu Beykat
Safi Faye received money from the French government to make Kaddu Beykat. When it came out in 1975, it was a very important film. It was the first feature film made by a woman from Sub-Saharan Africa to be shown widely. This film brought Faye international attention. However, it was banned in Senegal when it was first released. In 1976, it won two awards: the FIPRESCI Prize and the OCIC Award.
This film was the first of hers to focus on the lives of people in rural Senegal. It especially gave a voice to the women in these communities. The film is also special because Faye herself narrates it from off-screen. This was different from the usual male voice-overs in films at the time. Faye's voice, whether narrating or interviewing, is important in many of her films, including Fad'jal.
Mossane
This film is a fictional story. It was released in 1996, but she finished it in 1990. It is about a 14-year-old girl who struggles against the expectations of her family and community. Since birth, she was promised to marry a man living in France. But she falls in love with a poor student instead. On her wedding day, she refuses the marriage, runs away from the village, and drowns.
Faye said the story was inspired by an African legend. This legend says that a girl of amazing beauty is born every other century. The word "moss" means beauty in the Serer language. It is a kind of beauty that people cannot fully grasp. About the film's message, the director said there is "no moral to the story." Instead, it shows "how tradition and modern ways meet in African life today."
The film includes many ceremonies and rituals. While not all of them are exactly real, they come from Faye's own ideas and spiritual symbols. Filmmaker Beti Ellerson noted that Faye was good at mixing facts and fiction. She blended cultural studies and myths. This helped her show the history and experiences of her people.
Faye used many cinéma-vérité techniques in making Mossane. This means she tried to make it feel very real. For example, she cast many people from the village where the film was shot to act in it.
Personal Life
Safi Faye lived in Paris and had one daughter. She passed away in Paris on February 22, 2023, at the age of 79.
Filmography
- 1972: Passante (The Passerby)
- 1975: Kaddu Beykat (Letter from My Village)
- 1979: Fad'jal (Come and work)
- 1979: Goob na nu (The harvest is in)
- 1980: Man Sa Yay (I, Your Mother)
- 1981: Les âmes au soleil (Souls under the Sun)
- 1983: Selbe: One Among Many (or Selbe and So Many Others)
- 1983: 3 ans 5 mois (Three years five months)
- 1985: Racines noires (Black Roots)
- 1985: Elsie Haas, femme peintre et cinéaste d'Haiti (Elsie Haas, Haitian Woman Painter and Filmmaker)
- 1989: Tesito
- 1996: Mossane
See also
In Spanish: Safi Faye para niños
