Senegal / 2016 / 94mins / Biography, Documentary / Wolof and French

“The Universal Man,” “The Capital Contemporary,” “The Giant of Knowledge,” “The Last Pharaoh”: those were some of the newspaper headlines the day after the death of Senegalese historian, doctor, and politician Cheikh Anta Diop on February 7, 1986. Kemtiyu is a portrait of this trailblazing scholar—venerated by some, derided by others, and unknown to most—an honest, enlightened political figure who had an insatiable thirst for science and knowledge.

Ousmane William Mbaye

Born in Paris in 1952, Ousmane William Mbaye is the son of the famous woman of culture, Annette Mbaye of Erneville. Mbaye trained at the Conservatoire Libre du Cinéma Français and studied at the University of Paris VIII Vincennes and went on to make films in Senegal. From 1990 to 1997, he coordinated the Rencontres Cinématographiques of Dakar (RECIDAK). Learn More