Portal:African cinema/Selected birthdays/7



Sana Na N’Hada (b. May 26 1950) is a pioneering filmmaker in Guinea-Bissau. He was the first director of Guinea-Bissau’s National Film Institute. He collaborated with notable filmmakers like Chris Marker on Marker’s essay film Sans Soleil (1983) and Flora Gomes on his first two short films. His works encompass shorts, documentaries and feature films. His first feature film, Xime (1994), was shown at the Cannes Film Festival.

Ivie Okujaiye (b. May 16 1987) is a Nigerian producer, actress and scriptwriter who gained popularity after winning the Amstel Malta Box Office reality TV show in 2009, earning the moniker “Little Genevieve” for her resemblance to veteran Nigerian actress Genevieve Nnaji. She made her Nollywood debut in Alero’s Symphony (2011) and has featured in other notable productions, including Hotel Majestic (2015) and Enakhe (2020). She won the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Young Actor in 2012 and the Trailblazer Award at the 2013 Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards.

Ama K. Abebrese (b. May 3 1980) is a British-Ghanaian actress, TV presenter and producer. Best known for her role in the drama film Sinking Sands (2010), she won the Best Actress category at the 2011 AMAA Awards. Abebrese also starred in Beasts of No Nation (2015) and Azali (2018), Ghana’s first submission to the Oscars. Her most recent role is in The Storm, a Ghanian crime drama by Ben Owusu set for release in July 2024. She has earned multiple notable awards and nominations, including wins at the Ghana Movie Awards and Africa Movie Academy Awards.

Gavin Hood (b. May 12 1963) is a South African director and actorr who rose to prominence for the South African drama film Tsotsi, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2006, the first South African film and first African film not made in French to win the award He has since gone on to produce international productions such as X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) Eye in the Sky (2015) and Official Secrets (2019).

Aïssa Maïga (b. May 25 1975) is a Senegal-born French actress whose breakthrough role was in Abderrahmane Sissako’s Malian drama Bamako (2006)  for which she was nominated for a César Award for Most Promising Actress. She was the first French actress of African descent to ever receive a nomination. She is also known for roles in films such as Paris, je t’aime (2006) Caché (2006), Mood Indigo (2013), and Chiwetel Ejiofor’s directorial debut, The Boy Who harnessed the Wind (2019). She is a vocal advocate for diversity and inclusion, founding the DiasporAct collective to address the underrepresentation of people of color in the French film industry. DiasporAct published a book of essays, called Noire n’est pas mon métier  ('Black is not my job”) (ed. Seuil) that detail the inequity and racism black women face in the French film industry.

Matt Bish (b. 15 May, 1975) also known as Matthew Bishanga is a Ugandan filmmaker and the creative director of Bish Films. He co-founded Bish Films alongside his brother in 2005 in order to produce music videos. They, however, branched out to filmmaking and went on to direct the first Ugandan feature film, Battle of the Souls, in 2007, which went on to earn 11 nominations at the Africa Movie Academy Awards and won in the Best Visual Effects and Best Supporting Actor categories. His other notable productions include A Good Catholic Girl (2010) and State Research Bureau (2011).