Ben Diogaye Bèye

Ben Diogaye Bèye (born 1947) is a Senegalese filmwriter, filmmaker, film producer and journalist. He was the co-director of nearly a dozen Senegalese films, including Touki Bouki with Djibril Diop Mambety, Baks with Momar Thiam, Sarah et Marjama with Axel Lohman, and the co-screenwriter of the latter two.[1]

Educated in Paris, he was an apprentice of several noted Senegalese filmmakers, including Ousmane Sembène, Ababacar Samb, and Djibril Diop Mambety.[2] He has been a radio broadcaster-producer for Radio Senegal and also as a professional journalist, directing the Senegalese news agency's "Sports and Culture" department.[3]

His first (short) film was Les Princes Noirs de Saint Germain-des-Près, released in 1972, which is also his best known.[2] It is a satire on a young and unemployed African trying to live differently in the French capital.[1] His second film, Samba Tali, was released in early 1975.[1] He produced and directed it based on his own screenplay.[1] It received the Best Short Film Prize at the Festival International du Film de l'Ensemble Francophone in Genèva in 1975 and at the Carthage Festival in 1976.[1]

Bey produced and directed his first feature film, Sey, Seyti, in 1980, which was critical of polygamy in Senegal.[1] It was the runner up for the Best Screenplay Prize at a contest organized for the Francophone countries by the Agency for Technical and Cultural Cooperation.[1] It received an honorable mention at the Locarno Film Festival and the Prix de la Commune Pan-African Film Festivals in 1980 and 1981 respectively.[1]

In 1987, he directed a documentary film on the Senegalese Red Cross.[1] Other films he created include Un Homme Des Femmes (1983) and Moytuleen (1996).[2] His most recent and second full-length film is Un Amour d’Enfant, released in 2004,[1] which looks at childhood love.[2] It won the UNICEF Award for the Promotion of Children’s Rights at the Pan-African Film Festival in 2005 and a Special Mention from the World Catholic Association for Communication.[3]

He wrote the original script of Thiaroye '44, a project later renamed Camp de Thiaroye.[2] Beye is a member of the Association of Senegalese Filmmakers.[2]