Rama
Thiaw

Rama Thiaw is a poet, artist, filmmaker, and activist of a rare sensitivity. She believes in the power of the image and advocates for a cinema that combines strong messages with social engagement. Her creed: “Art that does not shape [society] has no appeal for me whatsoever.” It is therefore only logical that she defines herself as an economist as well as an artist, because in her view “economics is a philosophy of our humanity.”

Rama Thiaw was born on April 30, 1978 in Nouakchott, Mauritania and grew up between Senegal and France. She studied international economics and film in Paris, which enabled her to combine her passions for art and socioeconomic analysis. The artist has a Senegalese film company, Boul Fallé Images, where she works as a writer, director, and producer.

Her first film, Boul Fallé, la voie de la lutte (Boul Fallé, The Wrestling Way, 2009), shines a spotlight on the Senegalese youth movement of the same name. The documentary explores the political engagement and protests of young Senegalese people and illustrates the social and political tensions in the country. In 2016, she presented her second documentary, The Revolution Won’t Be Televised, at the Berlinale (Forum), where it won the Critics’ Award. The film profiles the Senegalese movement Y’en a marre (We’re Fed Up), which formed to protest President Abdoulaye Wade’s run for re-election in 2011. Rama Thiaw follows the rappers Thiat and Kilifeu as they attend meetings, campaigns, arrests, and concerts. The film examines the role of this youth movement in Senegal’s shifting political landscape and demonstrates the close connection between music and politics. In 2019, the artist organized and curated the first edition of Sabbar Artistiques—Ateliers Reflexives Féminins de Dakar, a multimedia event series on the role of Black women since the protests of 1968.

Rama Thiaw believes that art that limits itself to imitating the West in its quest for money and prestige becomes entangled in capitalist logic and will never be able to overcome the bondage forced upon society. For her, “art without politics, economics, philosophy, and spirituality is an empty shell.” In her projects, she actively engages in social and political issues and uses cinema as a powerful, expressive tool for change. She is currently working on three projects: La vie en spirale, an adaptation of Abasse Ndione’s novel of the same name; La Disparition (The Vanishing), a documentary; and Zion Music, a feature-length documentary about the political history of reggae.

Text: Ibou Diop
Translation: good & cheap translations