Cinema of Chad


The Cinema of Chad is small though growing. The first film made in the country appears to have been 1958 John Huston adventure film The Roots of Heaven, filmed when the country was still a part of French Equatorial Africa. Documentary filmmaker Edouard Sailly made a series of shorts in the 1960s depicting daily life in the country. During this period there were a number of cinemas in the country, including in N'Djamena Le Normandie, Le Vogue, the Rio, the Étoile and the Shéherazade, and also the Rex in Sarh, the Logone in Moundou and the Ciné Chachati in Abéché. The film industry suffered severely in the 1970s-80s as Chad became engulfed in a series of civil wars and foreign military interventions; film production stopped, and all the cinemas in Chad closed down. Following the ousting of dictator Hissène Habré by Idriss Déby in 1990 the situation in the country stabilised somewhat, allowing the development of a nascent film industry, most notably with the work of directors Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Issa Serge Coelo and Abakar Chene Massar. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun has won awards at the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou, Venice International Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival. In January 2011 Le Normandie in N'Djamena, said to now be the only cinema in Chad, re-opened with government support.

List of Chadian films

The following is a sortable list of films produced or shot in Chad.
YearTitleDirectorGenreNotes
1958The Roots of HeavenJohn HustonDrama, actionAmerican film partly shot in Chad
1960Les Tonnes de l'Audace - Mission Ténéré TchadRené Quinet & Louis SommetDocumentary
1966Pêcheurs du ChariEdouard SaillyEthnographic shortEnglish title: Fishers of the Chari
1966Le Lac TchadEdouard SaillyEthnographic shortEnglish title: Lake Chad
1966Salam el KebirEdouard SaillyEthnographic short
1966Les Abattoirs de ForchiaEdouard SaillyEthnographic shortEnglish title: The Abattoirs of Forchia
1966LargeauEdouard SaillyEthnographic short
1967Le Troisième JourEdouard SaillyDrama, shortEnglish title: The Third Day
1969L'Enfant du TchadEdouard SaillyEthnographic shortEnglish title: The Infant of Chad
1972A la Découverte du TchadEdouard SaillyEthnographic shortEnglish title: Discovering Chad
1994Maral TaniéMahamat-Saleh HarounShort
1994Un Taxi pour AouzouIssa Serge CoeloDrama short
1995Goï-GoïMahamat-Saleh HarounDrama short
1995Dilemme au FémininZara Mahamat YacoubTV filmEnglish title: Female Dilemma
1999Bye Bye AfricaMahamat Saleh HarounDrama
2000DaresalamIssa Serge CoeloWar DramaEnglish title: Let There Be Peace
2002AbounaMahamat Saleh HarounDramaEnglish title: Our Father
2005Addabache Djay WaraAbakar Chene MassarDrama
2006DarattMahamat Saleh HarounDramaEnglish title: Dry Season
2006Issa Serge CoeloDrama
2006KalalaMahamat Saleh HarounDocumentary
2009Le Pèlerin de Camp NouAbakar Chene MassarDramaEnglish title: Captain Majid
2009La DeliveranceRichard HuntDocumentary
2010A Screaming ManMahamat Saleh HarounDramaFrench title: Un homme qui crie
2013GriGrisMahamat Saleh HarounDrama
2015Parler de Rose, Prisonnière de Hissène HabréIsabel CoixetDocumentaryEnglish title: Talking With Rose, Prisoner of Hissène Habré
2017Hissein Habré, une Tragédie TchadienneMahamat Saleh HarounDocumentaryEnglish title: Hissène Habré, a Chadian Tragedy