A prominent French-Burkinabè film journalist, critic, distributor, speaker, and staunch advocate for African filmmaking worldwide, Claire Diao’s extensive background in promoting African films and filmmakers both within the continent and internationally, is renowned.
As founder of the traveling screening series “Quartiers Lointains,” creating the Pan-African film criticism magazine Awotele, and launching sales and distribution company Sudu Connexion, Diao boasts a 20-year career committed to the cause.
Her journey into the world of cinema was shaped by a profound realization during her early experiences in Burkina Faso, where she confronted both personal disconnect from her heritage and the broader underrepresentation of African cinema in global discourse.
This awareness set the foundation for her dedication to amplifying African voices in film.
From FESPACO to Film Criticism: The Early Years (2005-2012)
In 2005, when Claire Diao arrived at the French Institute in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, for an internship, she couldn’t have predicted how a film festival would transform her life. “I felt a lot of guilt as a Burkinabé descendant to not know about the importance of FESPACO,” she recalls. “I saw hundreds of filmmakers embracing each other… they were like a big family and I didn’t know any of them. I discovered all these films and thought, ‘Why had I never heard about these films, this festival, these filmmakers?'”
This revelation quickly turned to action. During her internship, Burkinabé students approached the French Institute requesting World War II films for educational purposes. “In Burkina Faso, people weren’t used to teaching history with audiovisual materials,” Diao explains. She organized a screening that brought 400 students together. “Being on stage, introducing the film, seeing people raising hands, taking notes… I had a revelation. I didn’t know what it meant, but I knew I wanted to transmit cinema.”
Her passion led her to pursue a master’s research project in Mali, studying cinema audiences across the country. “I traveled around studying who was going to cinema in Bamako, who used to go to video clubs in Mopti, who was attending open-air screenings in Kayes,” she says. What she discovered was troubling: “Even in the streets of Bamako, on the very street of the cinema institute, people didn’t know there was a cinema institute. There was no communication.”
This initial leap into cinema research shaped her path into journalism, though not without resistance. “I was reaching out to African media, but they weren’t interested in cinema. Then I reached out to international cinema media, but they weren’t interested in Africa,” Diao recalls. “So I ended up writing online for websites where I wasn’t paid, but at least there was my name.” She meticulously printed her early articles until they became too numerous to collect.
Recognition came gradually. From bylines on unpaid articles, she progressed to festival invitations, panel moderations, and eventually paid writing opportunities. By 2014, she had secured her press card in France and was writing for prestigious publications like Le Monde and Sofilm.
A pivotal moment came in 2012 at Durban Talent Press (part of the Durban Filmmart), leading to a four-year stint as Screen Africa’s correspondent. “I was traveling worldwide to film festivals, sending them pieces about South African cinema, but also what was happening in the rest of the continent,” she says.
Building Bridges: Quartiers Lointains, Awotele, and Beyond (2013-2017)
In 2013, identifying another gap in the ecosystem, Diao launched Quartiers Lointains, a touring short film program connecting France, the United States, and African countries. The initiative addressed a crucial misconception: “There was this belief in Africa that African filmmakers in France were lucky, that they had grants. But I discovered that people with African backgrounds had no support, no access to money. They were making urban films, self-produced, just with passion but without any funding.”
The program revealed startling cultural disconnects on both sides. “Even in 2013-14, I had surprising audience reactions in France saying, ‘What? There are Africans speaking Portuguese?’ or ‘Oh, they’re well developed, they have mobile phones,'” Diao remembers with disbelief. “This was after the year 2000 – what did people think the African continent was?”
By 2015, Diao co-founded Awotele, a pan-African film critic magazine, building on her experience with the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers (FEPACI). But the federation’s internal politics proved frustrating. “All those older film critics were just fighting, saying ‘We were the founders, we want the head of the organization to be in our country.’ We spent more time sending condolences or congratulations for weddings than discussing films.”
Awotele became a labor of love and determination. “We had more than 20 writers around the continent, editorial committee between Lagos, Madagascar, France. We were bilingual French-English,” she explains. For seven years, Diao personally carried copies in her suitcase, handling currency exchanges, finding hostesses, negotiating with festivals.
The magazine reached Stanford University and the Cinémathèque Française, but sustainability proved elusive. “Everyone said yes to making a magazine, but I was the only one paying everyone from my pocket.”
This experience led directly to founding Sudu Connexion in 2016. “I needed a company, I needed a bank account because I was selling the magazine – I couldn’t put the money under my bed,” she says with characteristic pragmatism. The company grew from her accumulated network of theaters and programmers, expanding from shorts to features and mid-length films.
In 2017, Diao published “Double Vague” (Double Wave), examining French filmmakers of African descent struggling for recognition. “It’s an essay about the journey into cinema, a reflection on French racism in cinema, but also on French society – how they integrate these people whose parents came from abroad, who are considered French but not truly considered French by other citizens or institutions.”
The book opened new doors, leading to committee positions at Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival, Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, television appearances, and more.
Distribution and the Future of African Cinema (2018-Present)
Her most recent challenge came with the initial African theatrical distribution of Mati Diop’s Berlinale Golden Bear-winning film “Dahomey” (2024). Working with a compressed timeline from March to May, Diao orchestrated simultaneous releases throughout Senegal while physically present at Cannes, and later in Benin.
“My body was in Cannes, my mind and head were 100% in Senegal,” she recalls. The Senegal premiere drew approximately 400 people, followed by a museum screening for 250, and a masterclass with 200 students. Yet the general reception varied between countries; for example, Benin audiences questioned why a non-Beninese director told their story.
The experience exemplified persistent challenges in intra-African film distribution. “Don’t expect the moon,” she advised Diop. “You’re in Africa where people aren’t used to going to the cinema. Your film, even if it’s cinema, is considered a documentary, and people don’t watch documentaries. The cinema ticket price is still really expensive for someone struggling to have three meals a day.”
Today, Diao’s work spans continents and formats. She discovers films both through active pursuit and filmmaker outreach. “Baloji [‘Omen’/’Augure’, Cannes 2023] reached out saying ‘Hey, I need to push the film,'” she recalls, while she found Kenyan filmmaker Wanjiku Wamai’s “Shimoni” (Toronto, 2022) at FESPACO and “fell in love with it.” Each project requires intricate coordination with sales agents, production companies, and theaters, plus country-specific knowledge of press contacts, event planning, and local customs.
Looking ahead, she plans to launch a fundraising campaign for Sudu Connexion. “I don’t know any company that grows without growing financially,” she observes. Plans include releasing Season 8 of Quartiers Lointains featuring shorts from Niger, Ethiopia, Senegal, and Egypt, and, at the moment, is coordinating the release of Luck Razanajaona’s feature debut, “Disco Afrika: A Malagasy Story” (Berlin, 2024) across multiple territories.
The landscape has evolved dramatically since her 2005 FESPACO revelation. “Thanks to the internet and digital era, you have many more African filmmakers, and people are aware there are plenty of filmmakers,” she notes. “You can no longer expect to just have one or two.”
Yet challenges persist, particularly in building sustainable business models. “English-speaking filmmakers knew from the beginning they needed money, they make films, they want returns. French-speakers are used to receiving funds and don’t ask anything in return.”
Diao’s vision for the future includes developing art house cinema audiences, establishing regular documentary screening programs, and strengthening distribution networks. She dreams of opening “a small, tiny, cozy cinema where you can watch art house films.”
But her ultimate goal is African cinema’s financial independence. “Once we have serious funds with real money on the African continent, there won’t be this kind of co-production where people from the north look down at people from the South.”
As African cinema enters its next chapter, Diao remains both optimistic and pragmatic. “We have to build this industry,” she affirms, “but it won’t take months – it will take years.”
Her journey from that first FESPACO experience to today mirrors the industry’s evolution over those two decades: from limited recognition to expanding opportunities, from external validation to growing self-determination.
Through it all, she maintains her role as both industry builder and chronicler, understanding that developing African cinema requires not just screening films, but nurturing the entire ecosystem that supports them.