Richard De Medeiros (born 1940) is a Beninese film director.
Life
Richard De Medeiros was born 1940 in
Ouidah, and studied literature in
Cotonou
Cotonou (; fon, Kútɔ̀nú) is a city in Benin. Its official population count was 679,012 inhabitants in 2012; however, over two million people live in the larger urban area.
The urban area continues to expand, notably toward the west. The ci ...
and
Paris.
He later taught literature at the
National University of Benin
The University of Abomey-Calavi ''(french: Université d'Abomey-Calavi)'' is the principal public university in the west African country of Benin. The university is located in the city of Abomey-Calavi in the south of the country.
The school i ...
in Cotonou, specializing in
surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...
.
De Medeiros made two documentaries and a short feature film before his first feature film.
''The King died in exile'' was made while he was teaching at the Institut de Journalisme in Algiers.
It looked at
Béhanzin, the last king of
Dahomey
The Kingdom of Dahomey () was a West African kingdom located within present-day Benin that existed from approximately 1600 until 1904. Dahomey developed on the Abomey Plateau amongst the Fon people in the early 17th century and became a region ...
, exiled by the French colonial powers to
Martinique.
His short film ''Teke, Hymne au Borgou'' reappropriated ethnographic codes of filmmaking, blending them with elements of oral tradition and ''
griot'' narrative style.
''The Newcomer'' (1976) was Benin's second feature film. It focussed on the clash between Senou, a corrupt civil servant, and Ahouenou, a newcomer who wants to clean things up. After Senou resorts to witchcraft and Agouenou suffers an accident, Agouenou tries to gain acceptance by undergoing magical initiation..
[
De Medeiros was an influence on younger Beninese filmmakers like François Sourou Okioh. He created a film club, Association du 7e art, and a cultural review, ''Perspectives 7''. In the early 1980s he was interviewed by Pierre Haffner, participating in the debates among African filmmakers about the extent to which Jean Rouch's cinematic practice escaped its colonial context.
In 1980 he was filmed as a subject for Gérard Courant's '' Cinématon''.N°86 Richard de Medeiros]
/ref>
Films
* ''Le Roi est mort en exil'' (The King died in exile). Short documentary, 1970.
* ''Teke, hymne au Borgou'' (Teke, hymn to the Borgou). Short documentary, 1972.
* ''Silence et feu de brousse' (Silence and bushfire). Short fiction film, 1972
* ''Le nouveau venu'' (The newcomer). Feature-length fiction film, 1976
References
External links
*
Richard de Medeiros (1980)
by Gérard Courant - '' Cinématon'' #86
{{DEFAULTSORT:Medeiros, Richard De
Beninese film directors
Academic staff of the University of Abomey-Calavi
1940 births
Living people