Filmmaker
*1961 in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso
Dani Kouyaté is a filmmaker, storyteller, and educator whose work bridges African oral traditions, cinema, and contemporary social themes. Trained at the Institut Africain d’Éducation Cinématographique in Ouagadougou, he continued his studies in France, earning degrees from the Sorbonne, the International School of Anthropology in Paris, and Université Paris 8. After touring Europe and the United States with La Voix du Griot, founded by his father, he began his film career with Bilakoro (1989) and co-founded Sahelis Productions. His first feature, Keïta! L’Héritage du griot (1995), won major awards at FESPACO and Cannes. His films – including Sia, le rêve du python, OuagaSaga, Soleils, and While We Live – explore myth, politics, identity, and African–European relations. Based in Sweden since 2007, Kouyaté also teaches film, theatre, and anthropology in Uppsala, and his latest film, Katanga – The Dance of the Scorpions (2025), is an African adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth.