Sarah Maldoror

Biography

Sarah Maldoror (in Arabic: سارة مالدورور), whose real name was Marguerite Sarah Ducados, was a French filmmaker and director, born on July 19, 1929 in Condom (Gers) and died on April 13, 2020 in Fontenay-lès-Briis (Essonne). Her cinema is poetic but also political and committed. She is considered a leading figure in African cinema and the first female director on the continent. Born to a Guadeloupean father from Marie-Galante and a mother from Gers, she chose the artist name "Maldoror" in homage to the poet Lautréamont. In 1958, she created the first black troupe in Paris, "Les Griots", alongside Toto Bissainthe, Timoti Bassori and Samb Abambacar. One of their goals is to share and make known the texts of black authors, and to offer major roles to actors of African origin. Sarah Maldoror left for two years in Moscow to study cinema at VGIK under the guidance of Mark Donskoï. There she met the Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène. Companion of Mário Pinto de Andrade, Angolan poet and politician, she participated with him in the African liberation struggles. They gave birth to two daughters, Annouchka de Andrade and Henda Ducados. She returned to France in Saint-Denis. Mario de And…

Directed

1. Sambizanga (1973) — Director
2. Monangambeee (1968) — Director
3. A Dessert for Constance (1981) — Director
4. And the Dogs Were Silent (1976) — Director
5. Papa Césaire (2009) — Director
6. Guns for Banta (1970) — Director
7. Aimé Césaire, Un homme une terre (1976) — Director
8. Léon G. Damas (1995) — Director
9. The Hospital of Leningrad (1983) — Director
10. L'Enfant cinéma (1996) — Director
11. Tribu du bois de l'E (1998) — Director
12. Memory's Gaze (2003) — Director
13. Carnival in the Sahel (1979) — Director
14. Portrait of an African Woman (1985) — Director
15. Rencontre avec Assia Djebar (1987) — Director
16. Toto Bissainthe (1984) — Director
17. Miró, The Painter (1979) — Director
18. Scala Milan AC (2005) — Director
19. Le Passager du Tassili (1987) — Director
20. Aimé Césaire: The Mask of Words (1987) — Director
21. Aimé Césaire at the End of Daybreak (1977) — Director
22. Fogo, Fire Island (1979) — Director
23. Carnival in Bissau (1980) — Director
24. Louis Aragon, a mask in Paris (1978) — Director
25. Ana Mercedes Hoyos (2009) — Director
26. Les oiseaux mains (2005) — Director
27. Vlady (1989) — Director
28. The Basilica of Saint-Denis (1977) — Director
29. Père Lachaise Cemetery (1978) — Director
30. Saint-Denis-sur-Avenir (1972) — Director
31. Wifredo Lam (1980) — Director
32. René Depestre, poète haïtien (1981) — Director
33. Portrait of Christiane Diop (1985) — Director
34. Point Virgule (1986) — Director
35. Wielopole, Wielopole as Staged by Kantor (1980) — Director
36. Opening of the Theater Noir in Paris (1980) — Director
37. First International Conference for Black Women (1986) — Director
38. Claudel in Reims (1984) — Director
39. A Senegalese Man in Normandy (1986) — Director
40. Emanuel Ungaro (1982) — Director

Also appeared in

1. Voisins, voisines (2005) — Mme Patisson
2. And the Dogs Were Silent (1976)
3. Sarah Maldoror ou la nostalgie de l'utopie (1999) — Self
4. Mosaïque (1976) — Self
5. Aimé Césaire, Un homme une terre (1976) — Self
6. Mário (2024)
7. Afrique(s), une autre histoire du XXème siècle (2010) — Self
8. Sisters of the Screen - African Women in the Cinema (2002) — Self
9. Foreword to Guns for Banta (2011)
10. Afrique[s], une autre histoire du XXème siècle - Acte 1 (2010) — self