Portal:African cinema/Selected birthdays/23
Hafsa Zinaï Koudil (b 13 September 1951) is an Algerian novelist, journalist and film director living in France. She is best known for her first feature film Le démon au féminin (1993) based on the true story of Latifa, an Algerian professional who refused to wear a headscarf. At the request of her husband, Latifa was violently exorcised by Islamic fundamentalists in 1991. After receiving death threats while shooting the film, Koudil fled into exile in Tunisia. Accompanied by a police escort, she screened her film at the Amiens International Film Festival, where her film shared the Prix du Public.
Mohamed Emam (Arabic: محمد عادل محمد إمام; born 16 September 1984) is an Egyptian actor. He comes from a prominent family of filmmakers; his father is Adel Emam, one of Egypt's most famous actors, and his brother is the director Ramy Imam. Emam's first major film role was in the The Yacoubian Building (2006), then the most expensive Egyptian film, and like the eponymous novel, a scathing portrayal of modern Egyptian society. His next major role was a controversial comedy, Hassan and Marcus (2008) starring his father and Omar Sharif that addressed the tension between Muslims and Coptic Christians and won him a prize from the Alexandria International Film Festival in 2008. He continues to regularly star in Egyptian films and TV series, most recently in the Ramadan mini-series Cobra (2024).
Babetida Sadjo (b. on 19 September 1983) is a Belgian Guinea-Bissau-born actress best known for her role in Ellie Foumbi’s Our Father, the Devil (2021) for which she received wide acclaim for her starring role in the psychological drama. She also starred in the award-winning Icelandic drama Breathe Normally (2017) as a traveler from Guinea-Bissau trying to escape from her country's persecution of homosexuals by seeking asylum in Canada.
Majid Michel (b. 22 September, is a Ghanaian actor whose career has long-straddled both the Ghanaian and Nigerian film industries. He first gained prominence in the popular television serial drama Things We Do for Love (2003-06) which was followed by the film Divine Love, which provided him with his breakout starring role alongside Jackie Aygemang and Van Vicker. Michel has been nominated six times for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the Africa Movie Academy Awards and won the award in 2012 for Somewhere in Africa. He currently can be seen in Ramsey Nouah’s Netflix action drama,Tòkunbò released in August of this year.