Fatou Kande Senghor

Fatou Bintou Kandé Senghor (born 9 January 1971) is a Senegalese film director, writer, and photographer.

Biography Senghor was born in Dakar in 1971 and grew up between Nigeria, Ghana, and Benin. Her father was a diplomat from the Casamance region. She studied film and English literature at Charles de Gaulle University – Lille III, and almost did not complete her degree because she was very involved in the artistic environment in Paris. Senghor first attended the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou in 1992, as she had become a cinefile by that point. She considered not taking her final exams and enrolling in an art school, but decided against this.

Senghor graduated in 1993. In 1996, Senghor worked as a communications consultant for the World Bank. The following year, she found a job working on films and visuals for the National Council of Negro Women. From 1998 to 2000, Senghor was a visual specialist for the Goethe Institut. She worked in public relations at Suffolk University Dakar Campus between 2000 and 2002. She envisioned it being a place of sharing for artists, but she became known as a "creator of opportunities", a label Senghor rejected.

In 2007, Senghor directed Diola Tigi, which provides an account of an ancestral initiation ceremony in the village of Baïla. In 2012, she directed The Other in Me, about the return to Africa of Etienne and Leopold Senghor, twin grandsons of the first Senegalese president Léopold Sédar Senghor. She described it as difficult to create, edit, and organize. Senghor directed Giving Birth in 2015. The film tells the story of ceramist Seni Awa Camara and her struggles with unsuccessful pregnancies. It premiered at the Venice Biennale, where it was well received. She published the book Wala Bok, une histoire orale du hip hop au Sénégal in 2015, examining the hip-hop scene through testimonials from rappers, managers and producers.

Senghor is married to Etienne Senghor and has three children. She lives between Dakar and Thiès. Senghor has an interest in challenging expectations and stereotypes regarding ancestral religious practices like Islam and Christianity.

Filmography 1998 : Dal Diam 2000 : Tara the path of the World 2003 : Dona Ana Maria Cabral 2007 : Diola Tigi 2008 : My piece of poetry 2008 : The Return of the Elephant 2012 : The Other in Me 2013 : Malibala 2015 : Giving Birth