Florence Ayisi was born in Kumba in Cameroon on 22 July 1962[1]). She is an academic and filmmaker. Her film Sisters in Law won more than 27 awards (including the Prix Art et Essai at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005[2] and a Peabody Award[3])[4][5] and was short-listed for an Academy Award nomination in 2006. She won the UK Film Council Breakthrough Brits Award for Film Talent in 2008.[4][6] Since 2000 she has taught film at the University of South Wales.[7][8]
Ayisi founded the production company Iris Films in 2005. In 2007 she was recognised with a meeting with the Queen for her work's link with Commonwealth countries.[6]
Qualifications
- Certificate in Higher Education (Cert Ed) (1997) – School of Education, University of Sunderland, U.K.
- MA in Film Production (1992) Northern School of Film and Television, Leeds Metropolitan University, U.K.
- MA in Theatre and Media Production (1989) – University of Hull, U.K[6]
- Diploma in Television Production and Journalism (1987), Television Training Centre, Fulham Studios, London
- BA in English (1986) - Faculty of Modern Letters and Social Sciences – University of Yaoundé, Cameroon, Central Africa[4]
Filmography
- Zanzibar Soccer Dreams (Florence Ayisi & Catalin Brylla, 2016, 64 mins) -
- Transforming Lives: PNDP and Rural Development in Cameroon (2014, 35 mins)
- Handing Down Time – Cameroon (2012, 55 mins)
- Cameroonian Women in Motion (2012, 10 mins)
- Art of this Place: Women Artists in Cameroon (2011, 40 mins)[4]
- Zanzibar Soccer Queens (2007/2008, 87 & 52 mins)[4][9]
- Our World in Zanzibar (2007, 35 mins)[4]
- My Mother: Isange (2005, 7 minutes)[4][10]
- Sisters in Law (2005) (Florence Ayisi & Kim Longinotto, 2005, 104 mins)
- Reflections (2003)[10]
Reception
Marsha Meskimmon and Dorothy C. Rowe write that "Ayisi's nuanced portraits of the lives of contemporary African women reject simplistic stereotypes and suggest that gender politics in a global world may not divide easily along the lines of nation-states, 'East' and 'West', or 'developed' and ‘developing'."[11] In a 2012 article Olivier Jean TchOuaffé said "Kim Longinotto and Florence Ayisi, in their film Sister-in-Law, stand out for the originality with which they portray the figure of the judge within a post-colonial context of insecurity, as they highlight two strong women as the faces of security and judicial stability" p196.[12] Another review describes the film as "a well-crafted, focused film that really says something about a small, manageable aspect of another culture and the people who shape it."[13] A review in Black Camera describes Sisters in law as "a film that universalises experience without co-opting it."[14]
References
Further reading
- Ayisi, Florence; Brylla, Catalin (8 May 2013). "The Politics of Representation and Audience Reception: Alternative Visions of Africa". Research in African Literatures. 44 (2): 125–141. doi:10.2979/reseafrilite.44.2.125. ISSN 1527-2044. S2CID 55659611.
External links
- Florence Ayisi - Research in Film Website
- Florence Ayisi at Women Make Movies
- Florence Ayisi at Internet Movie Database
- Florence Ayisi on YouTube