Portal:African cinema/Selected biography/17

Fatoumata Coulibaly in 2017

Fatoumata Coulibaly is a Malian film actress, director, journalist, and women's rights activist, particularly against female genital mutilation (FGM). Her first film appearance was in Guimba the Tyrant a Malian comedy drama film by noted Malian director Cheick Oumar Sissoko and winner of the Grand prize at the 1995 Pan African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO). She is most known for her lead role in Moolaadé (2004) by Senegalese writer and director Ousmane Sembène. Coulibaly plays the role of Collé, a Burkinabe woman who uses moolaadé ("magical protection") to protect girls from female genital mutilation (FGM), a practice of which Coulabily was herself a victim. She won the Best Actress award at the Cinemanila International Film Festival in 2005 and the film went on to play an important role in raising wider awareness of FGM.