KHADY SYLLA, THE BEAUTIFUL MIND

Khady Sylla was born on March 29, 1963 in Dakar. She made an immense contribution to cinema and literature and her work is still unknown to the greater Senegalese public.

After her baccalaureate in Dakar, Khady Sylla moved to Paris to study commerce. She dropped out and joined Hypokhâgne (literary preparatory classes) where she completed a degree (bachelor) in philosophy. After working shortly as a translator, she evolved in an environment of artists, stylists, musicians, authors, a period during which she wrote scenarii. Khady started writing steadily after her grandmother passed away, to bring her out of annihilation. She produced her first short story, L'Univers, published in 2000. Then, the seeds of cinema were already planted thanks to her mother, secretary to the director of cinematography in Senegal. As a child, Khady Sylla watched “the first African films projected on white sheets at home”. Throughout her writing career, Khady strived to produce a strong and original body of work. Her aim is to reclaim “the word that had escaped”, la parole, “the vehicle of all knowledge”. Khady wrote a lot, screenplays, short stories, novels, films. She questioned the world, mused on the universe, showed the complexity of the human mind and human relationships. Her work shows the daily life of ordinary people, domestic workers, Car rapide drivers and apprentices, people suffering from mental illness. Khady Sylla produced 5 films, a novel and numerous unpublished writings. She was, in a word, a femme de lettres who is not much talked about. Yet, she had a lot to say.

Khady Sylla died on October 8, 2013 in Dakar, leaving behind an immense legacy for younger generations.

Ndeye Debo Seck

This article was originally published in the website of the CineFemFest