Fatoumata Coulibaly is a Malian film actress, director, journalist, and women's rights activist, particularly against

female genital mutilation Female genital mutilation (FGM) (also known as female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision) is the cutting or removal of some or all of the vulva for non-medical reasons. Prevalence of female ge ...

(FGM).

Early life

Coulibaly comes from a family of musicians, and her grandmother Bazéko Traoré was a singer and musician from the

Sikasso Sikasso ( Bambara: ߛߌߞߊߛߏ tr. Sikaso) is a city in the south of Mali and the capital of the Sikasso Cercle and the Sikasso Region. It is Mali's second largest city with 225,753 residents in the 2009 census. History Sikasso was a small ...

region, where Coulibaly comes from.

Career

Coulibaly first worked as a radio journalist and announcer in Mali, before she had an idea for a play, and went to see the director Ousmane Sow, who suggested that she try writing it as a film script, as did Cheick Oumar Sissoko. Coulibaly first attracted international attention with her role in the 1997 film '' N'Golo dit Papa''. Coulibaly played the lead role in the 2004 film '' Moolaadé'' from the

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

ese writer and director

Ousmane Sembène Ousmane Sembène (; 1 January 1923 or 8 January 1923 – 9 June 2007), was a Senegalese film director, producer and writer. The ''Los Angeles Times'' considered him one of the greatest authors of Africa and he has often been called the "father o ...

. Coulibaly starred as Collé Gallo Ardo Sy, her husband's second of three wives, in a village in

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

, who uses moolaadé ("magical protection") to try to protect girls from

(FGM). Coulibaly herself has been a victim of female genital mutilation. The critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

gave the film four stars (out of four), writing "for me the best film at Cannes 2004, a story vibrating with urgency and life. It makes a powerful statement and at the same time contains humor, charm and astonishing visual beauty". Coulibaly won the Best Actress award for her role as Collé, at the

Cinemanila International Film Festival The Cinemanila International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Manila, Philippines. It was founded by Filipino filmmaker Amable "Tikoy" Aguiluz in 1999. The focus of the festival is on the cinema of the Philippines as well as Sout ...

in 2005. This film had an important role in raising wider awareness of FGM, and Coulibaly has continued to campaign on this issue since then. Her campaign against FGM has been documented in the film ''Africa on the Move: The Power of Song'' (2010). Coulibaly has appeared in numerous films, television series and plays. As of 2016, Coulibaly works for the Office de radiodiffusion télévision du Mali (Office of Broadcasting Television of Mali) (ORTM).

Filmography

* '' Guimba the Tyrant'' (1995) * '' N'Golo dit Papa'' (1997) * '' Aphrodite, the Garden of the Perfumes'' (1998) * '' Moolaadé'' (2004), actress * ''Africa on the Move: The Power of the Song'' (2010) * '' Tourbillon à Bamako'' (2012)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coulibaly, Fatoumata Living people Malian women activists Malian women's rights activists Malian journalists Malian feminists 20th-century Malian actresses 21st-century Malian actresses Malian film actresses Malian activists Year of birth missing (living people) Violence against women in Mali Activists against female genital mutilation Malian actresses