2670 Havana Street
New Orleans, LA 70119-1240
1 504-942-8542 
1 504-460-3916
http://karmen.afrikblog.com/
http://neworleansafrikanfilmfest.org/index.php

Brief Profile
Mr. Ramaka is originally from Saint Louis, Senegal (West Africa), but resided for many  years in Paris, France.  Since January 2008, he has taken up residence in New Orleans, Louisiana.
He studied Visual Anthropology at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, and Film at the Institut des Hautes Etudes Cinématographiques, at l’Université de Paris VIII.  He set up his own production and distribution company, Les Ateliers de l’Arche, in France in 1990, and another in Senegal in 1997.  In 1998, the company opened Espace Bel’Arte in Senegal's capital city of Dakar, a space dedicated to the diffusion of independent films in their original versions and venue for activities aimed at school children and high school students.
Ramaka has written, produced, and directed several screenplays and films, including Ainsi soit-il (So Be It).  This short film was part of the series Afrika Dreaming, which includes contemporary stories of love from several countries in Africa.  The film received the Silver Lion award at the Venice Film Festival in 1997.  Karmen Geï is his first feature film, adapted from the French opera Carmen by Georges Bizet.  This first African film version of the Carmen story, a musical tragedy, was shown at several international film festivals in 2001-2002, including Cannes (France) and Sundance (USA), as well as a dozen television stations around the world.  Ramaka's latest project, And What if Latif Were Right, focusing on the assassination of a public official and the sinking of a passenger ship off the coast of Senegal, examines the culture of autocracy under current Senegalese president, Abdoulaye Wade.

Ramaka was first invited to Indiana University Bloomington for a brief visit by the Department of Comparative Literature in 2006.  In March 2007, he led a team of IU students in videotaping an international symposium on Senegalese literature and culture, organized on the Bloomington campus by the Project on African Expressive Traditions (POAET) and African Studies Program.  As a Visiting Research Associate, he is making a documentary from that footage on the symposium.  He was also interviewed recently by the Black Film Center/Archive at IU Bloomington for its publication Black Camera. 
He currently lives in New Orleans, where he is co- President and director of the New Orléans Afrikan Film and Arts Festival (NOAFEST). NOAFEST's audio-visual workshop is currently producing a film, directed by local students under his supervision, on a collaborative performance between the New Orleans Ballet Association and the Greater New Orleans Youth Orchestra. NOAFEST's Cinéma Première screens international and American films in the presence of filmmakers and in different venues in New Orleans. Ramaka is in the process of establishing a production company, Colored People's Time.

Scénarios

Fragments à deux et mille voix – L.M  Fiction
Combat de Nègre et de Chiens  - L.M d'après la pièce de Bernard - Marie Koltes - L.M Fiction
Sugar Bowl  -  d'après une nouvelle de Chester Himes - L.M Fiction
Karmen  - d'après l’opéra de Bezet - L.M Fiction
La nuit du Varan – - L.M Fiction
Ainsi soit-il - d'après une pièce de Wole Soyinka - L.M Fiction
Le Train Bleu – L.M - Fiction
Et si Latif avait raison ! – L.M  Documentaire

Filmographie

It’s My Man ! - 2009 – documentaire - numérique – 60 mn
Et si Latif avait raison ! - 2006, documentaire - numérique, 95 min.
Prix du Film Documentaire au Festival Vues d'Afrique
Karmen – 2001 – Fiction - 35mm - dolby stéréo - 85 min.
Quinzaine des Réalisateurs – Festival de Cannes 2001
Sundance Film Festival
Festival de Toronto
Opening Night New York African Film Festival
Opening Night « Vues d’Afrique » Film Festival (Montréal)
Award Best Feature – Pan African Film Festival of Los Angeles
Ainsi soi-il – 1997 – Fiction - 35 mm – dolby stéréo - 33 min.
Lion d'Argent - Premier prix de la Section Corto-cortissimo de la 54e Mostra Internationale d'Arte Cinematografica de Venise.
Premier Prix du court métrage au Festival Vues d'Afrique 1998.
Diffusion: La Sept Arte
Baby Sister - 1997 - Fiction - 35 mm, -12 min.
Tournage d'une maquette pour un projet de long métrage
Nitt... N'Doxx - Les Faiseurs de pluie – 1989 – documentaire - 16 mm - 85 min.
Mostra Internationale de Rimini (Italie)
Diffusion: Chanel 4 et la Sept Arte
LA Musique lyrique Peul – 1986 – documentaire - court métrage - 10 min.
Diffusion: FR3

Portrait d’un mannequin – 1986 – documentaire - court métrage - 10 min.
Diffusion : FR3
Baaw-Naan - Rites de pluie – 1985– documentaire - court métrage - 16 mm - 25 min.
Masque d'Or du film documentaire, 2ème Festival International du Film sur le Carnaval et la Fête à Nice
Mention spéciale du Jury du 4ème Bilan du Film Ethnographique à Paris Premier prix du court métrage du 2ème Festival de Pérouse (Italie)

Productions et co-productions

It’s My Man !

Et si Latif avait raison !
De Joseph Gaye Ramaka
Documentaire numérique, 95 minutes, 2006
Karmen
De Joseph Gaye Ramaka
Fiction 35 mm, 85 minutes, 2001
Ainsi soit-il
De Joseph Gaye Ramaka
Fiction 35 mm, 33 minutes, 1996
Africa Dreaming
Fiction 35 mm, 180 minutes, 1997
Demain je brûle
 De Mohamed Ben Ismail
 Fiction 35 mm, 90 minutes, 1997
Au bout du fleuve
 De Imunga Ivanga
 Fiction 16 mm, 26 minutes, 1997
Idylle
 De Dominique Camara
 Fiction 16 mm, 1996
Le jardin jardin des corps
 De Raymond Rajaonarivelo
Documentaire S16 mm, 10 minutes, 1995

Il cantastorie
 De Anne Alix
 Documentaire S16 mm, 52 minutes, 1995
Thunder Ten Tronkh
De Alban Guitteni
Fiction S16 mm, 20 minutes, 1995
Niwam
 De Clarence Delgado
Fiction S16 mm, 85 minutes, 1994
Les faiseurs de pluie
De Joseph Gaye Ramaka
Documentaire 16 mm, 52 minutes, 1994
O Santo Daime
De Patrick Deshayes
Fiction S16 mm, 97 minutes, 1993
Boxulmaleen / L'an... Fer
De Amet Diallo
Fiction 16 mm, 30 minutes, 1990
Lola Posse
De Benoît Cohen
Fiction S16 mm, 20 minutes