| Ben Diogaye Bèye | |
| Occupation: | Film writer, filmmaker, film producer and journalist |
| Notable Works: | Un Homme Des Femmes (1983) |
| Birth Place: | Senegal |
Ben Diogaye Bèye (born 1947) is a Senegalese filmwriter, filmmaker, film producer and journalist. He was the assistant director of nearly a dozen Senegalese films, including Touki Bouki with Djibril Diop Mambety, Baks with Momar Thiam, Sarah et Marjama with Axel Lohman, and the co-screenwriter of the latter two.[1]
Educated in Paris, he was an apprentice of several noted Senegalese filmmakers, including Ousmane Sembène, Ababacar Samb, and Djibril Diop Mambety.[2] He has been a radio broadcaster-producer for Radio Senegal and also as a professional journalist, directing the Senegalese news agency's "Sports and Culture" department.[3]
His first (short) film was Les Princes Noirs de Saint Germain-des-Près, released in 1972, which is also his best known.[2] It is a satire on a young and unemployed African trying to live differently in the French capital.[1] His second film, Samba Tali, was released in early 1975.[1] He produced and directed it based on his own screenplay.[1] It received the Best Short Film Prize at the Festival International du Film de l'Ensemble Francophone in Genèva in 1975 and at the Carthage Festival in 1976.[1]
Bey produced and directed his first feature film, Sey, Seyti, in 1980, which was critical of polygamy in Senegal.[1] It was the runner up for the Best Screenplay Prize at a contest organized for the Francophone countries by the Agency for Technical and Cultural Cooperation.[1] It received an honorable mention at the Locarno Film Festival and the Prix de la Commune Pan-African Film Festivals in 1980 and 1981 respectively.[1]
In 1987, he directed a documentary film on the Senegalese Red Cross.[1] Other films he directed include Un Homme Des Femmes (1983) and Moytuleen (1996).[2] In 2004 he released his second full-length film, Un Amour d’Enfant,[1] which looks at childhood love.[2] It won the UNICEF Award for the Promotion of Children's Rights at the Pan-African Film Festival in 2005 and received a Special Mention from the World Catholic Association for Communication.[3]
He wrote the original scenario for Thiaroye '44, later renamed Camp de Thiaroye and released in 1988.[2] Beye is a member of the Association of Senegalese Filmmakers.[2]