Ousmane Sembène
Senegalese film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author (1923–2007)
Ousmane Sembène (French: [usman sɑ̃bɛn]; 1 January 1923 or 8 January 1923 – 9 June 2007), was a Senegalese film director, producer and writer. The Los Angeles Times considered him one of the greatest authors of Africa and he has often been called the "father of African film".
He was often credited for his work in the French style as Sembène Ousmane, which he seemed to favor as a way to underscore the "colonial imposition" of this naming ritual and subvert it.
Descended from a Serer family through his mother from the line of Matar Sène, Ousmane Sembène was particularly drawn to Serer religious festivals. He especially was intrigued by the Tuur festival.
Early life
The son of a fisherman and his wife, Ousmane Sembène was born in Ziguinchor in Casamance to a Lebou family. From childhood he was exposed to the Serer religion through his mother's people, especially the Tuur festival, in which he was made "cult servant". Although the Tuur demands offerings of curdled milk to the ancestral spirits (Pangool), Sembène did not take his responsibility as cult servant seriously and was known for drinking the offerings made to the ancestors. Some of his adult work draws on Serer themes. His maternal grandmother reared him and greatly influenced him.
The public source identifies “Ousmane Sembène” as senegalese film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author (1923–2007). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Ousmane, Sembène and Senegalese.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q314966. VIAF identifies the subject as 7397012. The Library of Congress control number is n50049939. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1923 and 2007.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ousmane Sembène” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.