13 Facts About Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

Mahamat-Saleh Haroun left Chad during the civil wars of the 1980s.

Mahamat-Saleh Haroun studied film at the Conservatoire Libre du Cinema in Paris.

Mahamat-Saleh Haroun directed his first short film Tan Koul in 1991, but he became famous after his second film Maral Tanie, directed in 1994.

In 1999, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun released his first feature film Bye Bye Africa, which he wrote, directed, and starred in.

The filmmaker then shot a documentary, Kalala, the intimate portrait of Hissein Djibrine, a close friend of Haroun who died in 2003 of AIDS.

Hissein Djibrine produced the filmmaker's first two feature films, and Mahamat-Saleh Haroun was deeply touched by his death and wanted to honor his memory.

In 2006, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun directed Dry Season, the story of young Akim, who at the age of 16, left his village in Chad for the capital, N'Djamena, to avenge his father.

Mahamat-Saleh Haroun quickly finds the murderer, a former war criminal and gets hired as an apprentice in his bakery.

Mahamat-Saleh Haroun received the Robert Bresson Prize for this film at the Venice Film Festival.

In 2016, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun was again at Cannes to present his documentary Hissein Habre, a Chadian Tragedy, about the Chadian dictator from 1982 to 1990, Hissein Habre.

In 2017 Mahamat-Saleh Haroun made his second feature film set in France, A Season in France.

Mahamat-Saleh Haroun was Minister of Tourism, Culture and Crafts of Chad from February 5,2017, to February 8,2018.

In December 2023, alongside 50 other filmmakers, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun signed an open letter published in Liberation demanding a ceasefire and an end to the killing of civilians amid the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, and for a humanitarian corridor into Gaza to be established for humanitarian aid, and the release of hostages.