Mahamat Saleh-Haroun discusses his filmmaking career

Mahamat-Saleh Haroun was born in Chad in 1961 and has resided in Paris since 1982. After working as a journalist and directing several shorts and documentaries, he gained international recognition with his first feature-length fiction film, Bye Bye Africa (1999) which garnered the best first film prize at the Venice Film Festival. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun went on to win major awards for his subsequent films including Daratt (Dry Season, Grand Jury Prize, Venice Film Festival 2006), and A Screaming Man (Jury Prize, Cannes Film Festival 2010). On the occasion of a special screening of Grigris (2013) and of the UK release of his latest film A Season in France (2017), featuring Eriq Ebouaney and Sandrine Bonnaire, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun came to Ciné Lumière for a masterclass led by Simon Field (producer and former director of the Rotterdam Film Festival). The masterclass is an audio recording and it includes audio clips. You can also watch a selection of clips in video from Bye Bye Africa (1999), Abouna (2002), Darratt (2006) and A Season in France.

"We have to make films because we need a memory, a place where you can put all the things which have happened in your life" - Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

In addition to the masterclass, available on Mixcloud and Culturethèque – the digital librabry of the Institut Français du Royaume-Uni –, have a look at some film extracts.

Clip from Bye Bye Africa (1999)

Clip from Abouna (2002)

Clip from Dry Season (2006)

Clip from A Season in France (2017)

Watch A season in France on Itunes, Amazon, Sky or Google Play.