Oscar-nominated Abderrahmane Sissako named president of the Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury.
Abderrahmane Sissako, who was in competition at last year’s Cannes Film Festival with Timbuktu, is to return for the 68th edition of the festival (May 13-24) as the president of the Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury.
The African filmmaker follows directors including Abbas Kiarostami, Jane Campion, Michel Gondry, Hou Hsiao-hsien and Martin Scorsese.
Born in Mauritania but brought up in Mali and trained in filmmaking in the Soviet Union – at the Moscow VGIK – Sissako’s films explore the complex relations between North and South of Africa.
The Game, directed by Sissako during his final year at film school, was presented at Cannes Critics’ Week in 1991, followed two years later by the medium-length Octobre, at Un Certain Regard.
Life on Earth and Waiting for Happiness, both featured in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in 1998 and Un Certain Regard in 2002.
Bamako, a political parable, was presented Out of Competition in 2006, and was followed by Timbuktu in Competition in 2014 last year.
Timbuktu, a fictional protest against religious fundamentalism, is the first Mauritanian work to be nominated in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Oscars.
The president of the Cinéfondation and Short Films jury and the four figures from the arts world accompanying him will award three prizes to films submitted by film schools to the Cinéfondation Selection, as well as the Short Film Palme d’Or – to be presented during the festival’s closing ceremony on May 24.
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