Ababacar Samb Makharam
Ababacar Samb Makharam,, also spelt Ababacar Samb-Makharam, was a Senegalese filmmaker. His film production company was called Baobab Films.
Early life and education
Samb Makharam was born in Dakar, Senegal, on 21 October 1934.He attended the Senegalese Navy school, Centre de Formation Professionnelle de la Marine de Dakar, in 1950–1951, and worked in a law firm. He then left for Paris, France, and attended the École française de radioélectricité Rue Amyot.
In 1955 Samb Makharam founded the Paris theatre group Les Griots, uniting various Antillean and African actors such as Timité Bassori, Toto Bissainthe,, and Sarah Maldoror.
From 1955 until 1958 Samb Makharam trained as an actor at the Centre d'Art Dramatique de la Rue Blanche.
From 1959 to 1962 he was a cinema student at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, after which he travelled in the United States for further study.
Career
While studying as an actor in Paris, Samb Makharam performed in the films Tamango directed by John Berry and Les Tripes au soleil by.After studying in the US and Italy, he returned to France to join the Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française as an assistant director for television.
Samb Makharam worked as an actor, camera operator, screenwriter, film and television director, and film producer over the course of his career.
On returning to Senegal in 1964, Samb Makharam worked for the Ministry of Information there, was a cameraman with the Senegalese TV news, and served as a director and producer at Radio Sénégal.
In 1965 he directed his first feature film Et la neige n'etait plus / There Was No Longer Snow, followed by Kodou in 1971. He founded his own film production company, Baobab Films.
He pioneered a new style with a timeless role for the traditional Senegalese griot in his 1982 movie Jom ou L'Histoire d'un Peuple.
Other activities
Samb Makharam served as the secretary general of the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers from 1971 to 1977.Death and legacy
Samb Makharam died in Dakar on 7 October 1987 at the age of 52.Theatre
Between 1955 and 1964 Samb Makharam performed as an actor in various productions of his Paris theatre group Les Griots:| Play | Author | Director |
| L'ombre de La Ravine | John Millington Synge | Roger Blin |
| La Fille des Dieux | Abdou Anta Ka or Kâ | Roger Blin |
| Huis-Clos | Jean Paul Sartre | Roger Blin |
| Papa Bon Dieu | Louis Sapin | Michel Vitold |