My love story
I fell in love with film criticism when Jean Odoutan, a Beninese film director based in France created Quintessence, the biggest international film festival in my home country, Benin. I was a bachelor student in Linguistics when I got familiar with the basics of film criticism techniques.
Two film critics Olivier Barlet from France and Jean Marie Mollo Olinga from Cameroon helped me make up my mind to become a film critic. They taught me that viewing a film is not just a way of relaxing. That training actually strengthened me and gave me the power and the love for film criticism. This festival is a real awakening for the Beninese filmmaking which was totally down in the past years.
It is hard for Beninese filmmaking to take off due to the lack of political support and its market invaded by the Nigerian Nollywood, Indian Bollywood and more especially Tele Novelas. Those to whom we can identify the Beninese filmmaking are all living abroad. Nevertheless, some Beninese filmmakers living in the country try to do their best but filmmaking is still embryonic. In the same way, the National associations of film critics, even though they’re still underground, contribute to the main combat of developing filmmaking in Benin together with the directors.
After graduating in linguistics and communication (French), I attended many short courses in journalistic techniques and I have been the chief editor of Benin students Newspaper named “Le Revelateur” for 2 years. My career as journalist started there and launched me in the daily Newspaper “Evenement du jour” in Cotonou, Benin where I stayed for two years and was in charge of art and cultural issues.
Since 2006, I have been contributing as editor to the website of the African Federation of Cinematographic Criticism (AFCC) www.africine.org . This website helps me practice and improve my everyday film criticism writing technique, since the chief editor Thierno Ibrahima Dia is a permanent trainer for the editors of this website. By means of the AFCC- Africine, I also attended some training programs focused on film criticism in Togo and in Burkina Faso during Fespaco.
In 2007, I created a cine-club based in the biggest university of Benin to boost the film industry and to encourage a love of cinema among the youth of Benin. In 2008, I departed to South Africa to study applied communication skills. Today I am in the Talent Press at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival. For me it’s an exciting experience which will definitely deepen my knowledge. Meeting film critics from around the world, sharing experiences, working together and getting in networks are all related to my presence in this programme of the Berlinale Talent Campus.
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