Lula Ali Ismaïl

Lula Ali Ismaïl (born 1978) is a Djibouti-Canadian film director and screenwriter. She is the first woman from Djibouti to produce a film, earning her the nickname of "the first lady of the Djibouti cinema."[1] The directed the twenty-seven minute fiction short Laan (2011).[2] The film was screened at the 2012 Montreal Vues d'Afrique festival, and in 2013 at FESPACO. In 2014 she started working on a feature film, Dhalinyaro,[3] co-written with Alexandra Ramniceanu and Marc Wels.[4] The film, Djibouti's first feature film, premiered in July 2017.[5]

Lula Ali Ismaïl
Born1978
Djibouti
Occupation
  • Director
  • writer
  • actress
Years active2011–present

Biography

Ali Ismail was born in Djibouti in 1978 to an Issa family,[6] and in 1992 settled in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, as part of a wave of immigrants who left the poor and politically unstable African country.[7] The youngest of eight children, she studied office automation, and worked as a legal assistant for seven years, but developed an interest in the world of acting and cinema, and began to take courses on the subject.[4] At first, she played minor roles at several television series in Quebec, but found more interest in filmmaking.

Work

In 2012, Ali Ismail created her opera prima, a short film (27 minutes)[6] called Laan (Friends),[8] a story about Souad, Oubah and Ayane, three young women in Djibouti who chew on qat[9][6] and seek love. Ali Ismail also played one of the lead roles in it. The film described everyday life in her country. It was the first film directed by a woman from Djibouti. Ali Ismail relates that the funds needed for this film were raised mainly with the help of her family and friends. When she arrived in Djibouti, she contacted the Ministry of Culture for support, but the government did not have a budget for such projects. Nevertheless, she carried on with the project, thus setting the cornerstone of a film industry in the country. The film has been shown at different festivals in Africa, Europe and North America, and has been well received by the critics.[10]

In 2014, Ali Ismail filmed her first full-length movie, Dhalinyaro (Youth). The film follows three young women from different socio-economic backgrounds. It was supported by the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, and was co-produced in Canada, Somalia, France and Djibouti, where it was filmed in its entirety. The film was premiered in 2017 in Djibouti, and it was attended by the ministers of Education, Communication and Culture.[4]

Filmography
  • Laan, 2011
  • Dhalinyaro / Jeunesse [Youth], 2017
gollark: We're having arbitrary humans assisted by trained GPT-3 instances write it so it should be out soon.
gollark: Or they avoided the magical control because something something dragon, I don't know, this is going into the sequels mostly.
gollark: They were given access to the power of lace and cereal bars due to the will of the mysterious other antagonist, for some unfathomable end.
gollark: The ebooks are being edited and then our e-paper nanobot network will bring physical copies into line.
gollark: This will mostly only be as subtle hints, the sequel duology is being written still.

References
  1. Lula Ali Ismaïl, la First Lady du cinéma djiboutien. Jeune Afrique
  2. Beti Ellerson, "African Women of the Screen as Cultural Producers: An Overview by Country", "Black Camera", Vol. 10, No. 1 (Fall 2018), pp. 245–87.
  3. DHALINYARO: A feature film made-in-Djibouti, La Nation, 18 August 2016.
  4. Clarisse Juompan-Yakam, Lula Ali Ismaïl, la First Lady du cinéma djiboutien, Jeune Afrique, 24 January 2014.
  5. Cinéma : Avant-première du film "Dhalinyaro", The Nation, 30 July 2017.
  6. Laan, le premier court métrage de Lula Ali Ismail
  7. Canadian-based filmmaker puts Djibouti on the cinematic map, Screen Africa, February 2, 2015.
  8. Laan (2011). African Film Database
  9. Laan. Telérama
  10. SOMALI FILMAKER{sic} LULA ALI ISMAIL PUTS HER COUNTRY OF DJIBOUTI ON THE CINEMATIC MAP WITH HER FIRST FEATURE-LENGTH FILM, DHALINYARO
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