Movie-Database

Alain Gomis

Biography

Alain Gomis was born in Senegal as the son of a Senegalese father and a French mother. He grew up in Paris, studied art history and film at the Sorbonne and ran video workshops in the city’s majority-migrant suburbs, before shooting his first short films from 1991. His very first internationally acclaimed feature film L’AFRANCE (2001) about migrants with no future prospects was shown in Cologne. Since then, FilmInitiativ has also presented his experimental short film PETITE LUMIERE (LITTLE LIGHT) from 2002 about a girl who wants to solve the mystery of the light in a fridge, as well as his feature films ANDALUCIA

(2007) about an Algerian social worker’s decampment from Paris to the south of Spain and TEY (2011) about the last day in the life of a Senegalese man who returns home from the USA. The latter scooped Alain Gomis the main prize at the FESPACO pan-African film festival in Ouagadougou, which he again won this year for FÉLICITÉ, a film about a bar singer in Kinshasa. The legendary Kasai Allstars, who will come to Cologne to perform at the anniversary concert, contribute to the film’s soundtrack. Gomis has the following to say about his motivation: “What I want to convey on the cinema screen is that fundamental conflict of being an outsider.”

Filmography

FÉLICITÉ (2017): Guest, Screenplay, Direction

L'Afrance (2001): Screenplay, Direction

Andalucia (2007): Screenplay, Direction

TEY (2011): Direction

PETITE LUMIÈRE (KLEINES LICHT) (2002): Direction, Screenplay