Sarah Maldoror

Sarah Maldoror 19 July 1929 13 April 2020 was a French filmmaker of French West Indies descent She is best known for her feature film Sambizanga 1972 on the 19611974 war in Angola After her studies Maldoror worked as an assistant on Gillo Pontecorvos acclaimed film The Battle of Algiers 1966 She also worked as an assistant to Algerian director Ahmed Lallem Maldorors short film Monangambee 1968 was set in Angola based on a story by Angolan writer José Luandino Vieira The title of this 17minute film Monangambée refers to the call used by Angolan anticolonial activists to signal a village meeting The film was shot with amateur actors in Algeria It tells the story of a poor woman who visits her husband who is imprisoned in the city of Luanda The film was selected for the Directors Fortnight at Cannes in 1971 representing Angola Her first feature film Sambizanga 1972 was also based on a story by Vieira A vida verdadeira de Domingos Xavier and is set in 1961 at the onset of the Angolan War of Independence Guardian film writer Mark Cousins included Sambizanga in a 2012 list of the ten best African films calling it as bold as welllit as Caravaggio paintings Description above from the Wikipedia article Sarah Maldoror licensed under CC BYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia