
Manthia Diawara
Manthia Diawara is a Malian writer, filmmaker, cultural theorist, scholar, and art historian. His essays on art, cinema, and politics have appeared in The New Times Magazine, LA Times, Libération, Mediapart, and Artforum. He is the author of two acclaimed memoirs: In Search of Africa (Harvard University Press, 2000) and We Won’t Budge: An African in the World (Basic Books, 2008). He has published several books on African and African American cinema. Diawara’s notable films include An Opera of the World (2017), Negritude: A Dialogue between Soyinka and Senghor (2016), Édouard Glissant: One World in Relation (2010), Maison Tropicale (2008), Rouch In Reverse (1995), AI: African Intelligence (2023), and Angela Davis: A World of Wider Freedom (2024).
11 directing credits · 8 acting credits
Directing · 11

Sembène: The Making of African Cinema
1994
Rouch in Reverse
1995

A Letter from Yene
2022

Conakry Kas
2004
Angela Davis: A World of Greater Freedom
2023

Maison Tropicale
2008

Édouard Glissant: One World in Relation
2009

An Opera of the World
2017
Diaspora Conversations: from Goree to Dogon
2000
Négritude. A Dialogue between Wole Soyinka and Léopold Senghor
2015

AI: African Intelligence
2023