Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (born 1961) is a Chadian film director based in France. Quotes Everybody has his own truth I am trying to write and to tell all these stories about war, about divorces, about a lot of problems. That’s maybe why we have things to tell to others because for a long time we didn’t say anything, we were just fighting Maybe English people must just listen for five minutes or something like that. If they could just give us that attention, just listening, because we are sincere, so audiences will may be captivated – what I am telling is just the truth, I don’t try to make any fiction or ‘advertisement movie.’ It’s not a joke or just comedy, it’s really about life and death. Life is so hard and so interesting so I don’t need to create something like science fiction Creation sometimes is just a question of memory In reality when somebody leaves you it’s maybe forever It’s incredible because when you look at Africa people look as though there’s a lot of solidarity I don’t think that cinema can bring solutions to the government INTERVIEW WITH MAHAMET-SALEH HAROUN 15 November 2002 My cinema has to be political because of my situation in Chad Mahamat-Saleh Haroun and Achouackh Abakar Souleymane Interview (Lingui, the Sacred Bonds) 4 February 2022 Usually, when we talk about migrants, we always see hordes of people, but they don’t feel like individuals. They’re presented as a menacing group that has come out of nowhere. That’s the image of migrants given by the media and by quite a few films The more humane the migrants are, the less humanity they are confronted with As children, we’re only innocent if we’re allowed to remain in a world of children The question that all of Europe needs to ask itself is, when people build a memory and we chase them away, what is the hurt we are committing to those who have built relationships with them? Will people keep living like this, forced to jettison these connections repeatedly, stripped of their everyday lives and history? As soon as you try to talk about more difficult things, people don’t want to look. When you build relationships with people, the violence that is done to you also touches the people who love you and know you I wanted to give faces to the refugees’: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun on A Season in France 3 April 2019 All these other films have been made from an outside perspective; they’re only interested in the spectacle: of crossing the sea without knowing how to swim, of walking across a desert Books are also a way of children receiving stories, stories of a paradise lost There’s a kind of competition, a hierarchy when it comes to tragedy Tragedy needs a strong storyteller, otherwise it doesn’t exist Mahamat-Saleh Haroun: ‘Tragedy needs a strong storyteller, otherwise it doesn’t exist’ 19 June 2019 The thirst for power drives politics Cinema can’t be a luxury, or just entertainment It’s a feminism that doesn’t openly ask for anything, but is extremely active I can only exist because others exist; that is lingui, that is the common thread, the sacred bond of our social fabric Why Cannes Favorite Mahamat-Saleh Haroun Is One of Africa’s Most Essential Working Directors 8 July 2021 things are generally better for us men I was really blind to the reality of women but gradually I began to open my eyes and immerse myself in their world My films are like candles, lighting up dark spaces within the country Accessibility is a little bit difficult because the situation in Chad is like a snake biting their own tail The fact is that movie stars or popular actors drive people to theaters to see their movies Mahamat-Saleh Haroun on Confronting his Legacy and Making his Latest Film, 'Lingui, the Sacred Bonds' 4 February 2022 I wanted to be on the side of women, because it’s a huge problem Men are always out of the frame. The guilty one is always the woman There is the feeling that the female body belongs to men. It’s at their disposal Because you cannot just wait for men. Women find the solution. That’s the traditional way It’s pragmatic feminism. Women don’t have the theory – they just have to find a solution. There is a problem, and you have to act, or else you disappear. That is how I think women can survive in this society in Chad. I wanted to be on the side of women’: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun on his abortion drama set in Chad 4 February 2022 External Link