Lifetime Achievement

Abderrahmane Sissako is one of the most prominent African directors working today. Sissako studied cinema in Moscow at the VGIK (the Soviet state film school)and this background instilled in him a unique aesthetic that blends the patience of Russian cinema with the oral storytelling traditions of West Africa. His films are rarely loud or aggressive, instead, they are quiet, observational, and deeply poetic, often tackling massive geopolitical issues through the intimate lens of daily life. Sissako blurs the line between documentary and fiction in Bamako (2006), where he stages a fictitious trial against the World Bank and IMF in a real family courtyard in Mali. His uses striking visual metaphors and often favours wide shots, emphasising the landscape (the sandy alleys of Timbuktu for instance). Another notable aspect one can find in his films is his refusal to caricature antagonists. His contemplative pace and use of silence are influenced by his Soviet mentors. A director of quiet resistance, Abderrahmane Sissako fights political oppression not with shouting, but with beauty, dignity, and a profound empathy for the human condition.