Makena Diop

Makena Diop

Biography

Towards the end of the 1980s, continuing his quest, he packed his bags and turned towards other horizons. In Cologne, he played the lead in Papa Seck's film, Africa am Rhein, and developed writing workshops. In Sarrebruck, in 1993/1994, he staged Setnaa or La Cité de Ndumbelaan, an intercultural production in three languages (Wolof, French and German). In France, he has done shows as a storyteller, developed productions, and facilitated workshops devoted to storytelling and living productions. Working with the Racines (Roots) association, led by journalist Catherine Ruelle, he came up with the idea of developing an original approach using words and images: Ciné-Contes.
In the cinema, he has played the lead in two films by the Senegalese director Moussa Touré, Toubab Bi, for which he received the Bayard d'Or (1st prize for male actor) in 1991, at the Festival de la Francophonie at Namur, in Belgium, and TGV, in 1997, in which he played Rambo. Then came the role of Kenza, in Lumumba, a film directed by Raoul Peck, one of the leading roles in La grève des Battus by Cheikh Omar Cissoko. For this role, he took the Award for best male actor at Fespaco 2001. He played the title role in Une femme pour Souleymane by Diana Gaye. In 2002, he played the lead in Zézé Gamboa's film Le héros which took Grand Prize at the Sundance Festival and opened the New York Festival. In 2004, along with Aurélien Recoing and Edouardo Noriega, he played the lead in Souli, a film by Alexander Abela (also represented by WIDE Management).

Film Movement

Actor

Movies
2011

Viagem a Portugal

2006

Dreams of Dust

2004

Hero, The

 

Souli

2000

Battu

 

Lumumba

1998

TGV

1991

Toubab Bi

Series
2021

Mortel

 

Aprézan nou lyanné (S02E06)

 

Qumran (S02E05)

Short
2008

Tu seras un homme

2001

Une femme pour Souleymane