Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

Directing

Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

Born

1961-01-01 (65)

Place of birth

Abéché, Chad

Known for

Directing

Credits

40 titles

Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (French pronunciation: ​[ma.ama sale aʁun]; Arabic: محمد الصالح هارون; born 1961; Abéché). is a Chadian filmmaker. Loaded with complex moral and political themes, Haroun’s films confront questions of individual, familial, and national responsibility with unerring compassion and profound personal insight. He left Chad during the civil wars of the 1980s. Haroun is the first Chadian full-length film director. He both writes and directs his films. Though he has lived in France since 1982, most of his films have been set in and made in Chad. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun was Minister of Tourism, Culture and Crafts of Chad from February 5, 2017, to February 8, 2018.

Known for

Exterminate All the Brutes poster
7.4

Hybrid docuseries offering an expansive exploration of the exploitative and genocidal aspects of European colonialism, from America to Africa, and its impact on society today.

Exterminate All the Brutes

2021

Grigris poster
5.7

Souleymane, 25, dreams of being a dancer in spite of having a paralyzed leg. At nightclubs, he transforms into the beloved dancer Grigris, impressing people with his moves. However, when his stepfather falls seriously ill, Souleymane desperately needs money and decides to work for petrol smugglers.

Grigris

2013

A Screaming Man poster
6.1

Adam Ousmane is a pool attendant at a local resort. When the new managers decide to downsize, Adam loses his job to his own son, Abdel. Shattered by the turn of events, Adam is pressured into contributing to the Chadian war effort. With no money to speak of, the only asset he can donate is his son.

A Screaming Man

2010

Lingui, the Sacred Bonds poster
6.6

On the outskirts of the capital of Chad, determined single mother Amina works tirelessly to provide for herself and her 15-year old daughter Maria. When Amina discovers Maria is pregnant and does not want a child, the two women begin to seek out an abortion, condemned by both religion and law. In the process, mother and daughter forge a connection stronger than any they’ve ever known.

Lingui, the Sacred Bonds

2021

Soumsoum, the Night of the Stars poster
6.3

Seventeen-year-old Kellou has been gifted with supernatural powers she does not understand. Her disquiet and uncertainty only change when she meets Aya. It is an encounter with destiny that forges a mystical world where the visible and invisible converge.

Soumsoum, the Night of the Stars

2026

Our Father poster
6.1

Two boys (Tamir & Amine) awake one morning to find that their father has abandoned their family. Shocked, they begin to misbehave. While surreptitiously watching a movie, they think they see their father speaking to them and steal the film to examine the frames. Their mother (Achta) eventually despairs and sends them to Koranic school. Unhappy, they plan their escape until the eldest boy falls in love with a deaf girl (Khalil).

Our Father

2002

Film credits

Series credits

Behind the camera

Grigris poster
5.7

Souleymane, 25, dreams of being a dancer in spite of having a paralyzed leg. At nightclubs, he transforms into the beloved dancer Grigris, impressing people with his moves. However, when his stepfather falls seriously ill, Souleymane desperately needs money and decides to work for petrol smugglers.

Grigris

2013

Grigris poster
5.7

Souleymane, 25, dreams of being a dancer in spite of having a paralyzed leg. At nightclubs, he transforms into the beloved dancer Grigris, impressing people with his moves. However, when his stepfather falls seriously ill, Souleymane desperately needs money and decides to work for petrol smugglers.

Grigris

2013

A Screaming Man poster
6.1

Adam Ousmane is a pool attendant at a local resort. When the new managers decide to downsize, Adam loses his job to his own son, Abdel. Shattered by the turn of events, Adam is pressured into contributing to the Chadian war effort. With no money to speak of, the only asset he can donate is his son.

A Screaming Man

2010

A Screaming Man poster
6.1

Adam Ousmane is a pool attendant at a local resort. When the new managers decide to downsize, Adam loses his job to his own son, Abdel. Shattered by the turn of events, Adam is pressured into contributing to the Chadian war effort. With no money to speak of, the only asset he can donate is his son.

A Screaming Man

2010

Lingui, the Sacred Bonds poster
6.6

On the outskirts of the capital of Chad, determined single mother Amina works tirelessly to provide for herself and her 15-year old daughter Maria. When Amina discovers Maria is pregnant and does not want a child, the two women begin to seek out an abortion, condemned by both religion and law. In the process, mother and daughter forge a connection stronger than any they’ve ever known.

Lingui, the Sacred Bonds

2021

Lingui, the Sacred Bonds poster
6.6

On the outskirts of the capital of Chad, determined single mother Amina works tirelessly to provide for herself and her 15-year old daughter Maria. When Amina discovers Maria is pregnant and does not want a child, the two women begin to seek out an abortion, condemned by both religion and law. In the process, mother and daughter forge a connection stronger than any they’ve ever known.

Lingui, the Sacred Bonds

2021

Soumsoum, the Night of the Stars poster
6.3

Seventeen-year-old Kellou has been gifted with supernatural powers she does not understand. Her disquiet and uncertainty only change when she meets Aya. It is an encounter with destiny that forges a mystical world where the visible and invisible converge.

Soumsoum, the Night of the Stars

2026

Soumsoum, the Night of the Stars poster
6.3

Seventeen-year-old Kellou has been gifted with supernatural powers she does not understand. Her disquiet and uncertainty only change when she meets Aya. It is an encounter with destiny that forges a mystical world where the visible and invisible converge.

Soumsoum, the Night of the Stars

2026

Our Father poster
6.1

Two boys (Tamir & Amine) awake one morning to find that their father has abandoned their family. Shocked, they begin to misbehave. While surreptitiously watching a movie, they think they see their father speaking to them and steal the film to examine the frames. Their mother (Achta) eventually despairs and sends them to Koranic school. Unhappy, they plan their escape until the eldest boy falls in love with a deaf girl (Khalil).

Our Father

2002

Our Father poster
6.1

Two boys (Tamir & Amine) awake one morning to find that their father has abandoned their family. Shocked, they begin to misbehave. While surreptitiously watching a movie, they think they see their father speaking to them and steal the film to examine the frames. Their mother (Achta) eventually despairs and sends them to Koranic school. Unhappy, they plan their escape until the eldest boy falls in love with a deaf girl (Khalil).

Our Father

2002

A Season in France poster
5.5

An African high school teacher flees his war-torn country for France, where he falls in love with a Frenchwoman who offers a roof for him and his family.

A Season in France

2018

A Season in France poster
5.5

An African high school teacher flees his war-torn country for France, where he falls in love with a Frenchwoman who offers a roof for him and his family.

A Season in France

2018

Maral tanié poster
NR

Directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun.

Maral tanié

1994

Maral tanié poster
NR

Directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun.

Maral tanié

1994

Hissein Habré, A Chadian Tragedy poster
6.1

In 2013, former Chadian dictator Hissein Habré’s arrest in Senegal marked the end of a long combat for the survivors of his regime. Accompanied by the Chairman of the Association of the Victims of the Hissein Habré Regime, Mahamat Saleh Haroun goes to meet those who survived this tragedy and who still bear the scars of the horror in their flesh and in their souls. Through their courage and determination, the victims accomplish an unprecedented feat in the history of Africa: that of bringing a Head of State to trial.

Hissein Habré, A Chadian Tragedy

2016

Sex, Okra & Salted Butter poster
6.0

An extramarital affair leads to Hortense’s separation from her very traditional African husband, who is in for a ride as he learns about her love affair, his eldest son’s secret love life, and the responsibilities of single parenthood.

Sex, Okra & Salted Butter

2008

Sex, Okra & Salted Butter poster
6.0

An extramarital affair leads to Hortense’s separation from her very traditional African husband, who is in for a ride as he learns about her love affair, his eldest son’s secret love life, and the responsibilities of single parenthood.

Sex, Okra & Salted Butter

2008

Goï-Goï poster
1.0

A dissolute man whose wife cheats on him seeks revenge to preserve his honor.

Goï-Goï

1995

Goï-Goï poster
1.0

A dissolute man whose wife cheats on him seeks revenge to preserve his honor.

Goï-Goï

1995

Interdependence poster
5.0

Started in 2018, the project – comprised of 11 segments by filmmakers from all around the world – reflects on the intertwined relationship between human society and nature that is aggravated by climate change on multiple scales, hinting at possible solutions.

Interdependence

2019

Bye Bye Africa poster
5.8

A Chadian film director who lives and works in France returns home upon the death of his mother. He is shocked at the degraded state of the country and the national cinema. The filmmaker decides to make a film dedicated to his mother.

Bye Bye Africa

2003

Bye Bye Africa poster
5.8

A Chadian film director who lives and works in France returns home upon the death of his mother. He is shocked at the degraded state of the country and the national cinema. The filmmaker decides to make a film dedicated to his mother.

Bye Bye Africa

2003

Sotigui Kouyaté, a modern griot poster
NR

Through testimonies by Peter Brook, Jean-Claude Carriere, Jean-Pierre Guigane, and Sotigui Kouyate himself, SOTIGUI KOUYATE: A MODERN GRIOT dresses the portrait of one of Africa's greatest actor now based in Paris. From Africa to Europe, the film unveils the multiple facets of Sotigui Kouyate, actor, musician and modern griot.

Sotigui Kouyaté, a modern griot

1996

Dry Season poster
6.8

Chad, 2006. After a forty-year civil war, the radio announces the government has just amnestied the war criminals. Outraged by the news, Gumar Abatcha orders his grandson Atim, a sixteen-year-old youth, to trace the man who killed his father and to execute him. Atim obeys him and, armed with his father's own gun, he goes in search of Nassara, the man who made him an orphan. It does not take long before he finds him. Nassara, who now goes straight, is married, goes to the mosque and owns a small bakery. After some hesitation Atim offers him his services as an apprentice. He is hired then it will be easy for him to gun down the murderer of his father. At least, that is what he thinks...

Dry Season

2006

Dry Season poster
6.8

Chad, 2006. After a forty-year civil war, the radio announces the government has just amnestied the war criminals. Outraged by the news, Gumar Abatcha orders his grandson Atim, a sixteen-year-old youth, to trace the man who killed his father and to execute him. Atim obeys him and, armed with his father's own gun, he goes in search of Nassara, the man who made him an orphan. It does not take long before he finds him. Nassara, who now goes straight, is married, goes to the mosque and owns a small bakery. After some hesitation Atim offers him his services as an apprentice. He is hired then it will be easy for him to gun down the murderer of his father. At least, that is what he thinks...

Dry Season

2006

Dry Season poster
6.8

Chad, 2006. After a forty-year civil war, the radio announces the government has just amnestied the war criminals. Outraged by the news, Gumar Abatcha orders his grandson Atim, a sixteen-year-old youth, to trace the man who killed his father and to execute him. Atim obeys him and, armed with his father's own gun, he goes in search of Nassara, the man who made him an orphan. It does not take long before he finds him. Nassara, who now goes straight, is married, goes to the mosque and owns a small bakery. After some hesitation Atim offers him his services as an apprentice. He is hired then it will be easy for him to gun down the murderer of his father. At least, that is what he thinks...

Dry Season

2006

B 400 poster
8.0

A girl is locked out of her apartment building as a result of a prank. Can she get back in without disobeying any of her mother's warnings?

B 400

1997

B 400 poster
8.0

A girl is locked out of her apartment building as a result of a prank. Can she get back in without disobeying any of her mother's warnings?

B 400

1997

Expectations poster
4.7

Moussa attempts to cross the desert to escape his debts, only to return to his village defeated and dejected.

Expectations

2008

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Bord' Africa

1995

Lac poster
9.5

Kellou, in her forties, lives in Bol, the capital of Sahel’s province. She’s a fisher, profession transmitted from mother to daughter. She learned it from her mother. But since a few years, Lake Tchad has been shrinking, and fish has become rare. Kellou’s job is threatened. One day, after an un- successful catch, her 12 year old daughter Mouna gives her an idea: pick up plastic bags invading the lake and make ropes out of it to sell them on the market. By this simple gesture, Kellou gets to, in her own way, fight against plastic pollution and adapt to the new conditions brought about by climate change.

Lac

2019

Kalala poster
NR

Mahamat-Saleh Haroun lost his close friend and collaborator Hissein Djibrine (nicknamed 'Kalala' after the Congolese footballer) to Aids in 2003. he returned to Chad to make this personal, cathartic documentary as an expression of his grief to unravel the facts about Kalala's death and to honour his memory.

Kalala

2006

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Scenarios from Africa: African Solidarity

2004

No artwork available
NR

Tradition and AIDS in Africa. What to do when the respect of tradition is at odds with the community's health?

Scenarios from Africa: The Tree and the Wind

2004

Un thé au sahel poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Un thé au sahel

1998

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Letter from New York

2001