The young Senegalese-born Fatou N'Diaye first drew attention to herself on the small screen when she played the lead role of Daniel Vigne's Fatou la Malienne, a true to life account of a young Malian's abduction and forceful marriage. This TV production was seen by more than 8 million people in France and propelled the then student N'Diaye into the film world. She is now in the official competition section of the Venice Film Festival with Nha Fala, a surprising musical by noted Guinean filmmaker Flora Gomes.

Your family brought you to France when you were 8…

Yes, my mother had plans in France, so she took me with her. And it seems to have been a very good decision so far !

Are you still very conscious of your Senegalese roots ?

I am. I know that I belong to the Wolof ethnic group. I know where I come from. I know my family's history and a little bit about African history.

Any actors before you in the family ?

None. No entertainers in my family ! (Laughs)

So how did you get the vocation to be an actress ?

I knew from long ago that I wanted to be one. I thought I would follow the classical path, go to a drama school. That was before I met with Daniel Vigne and was cast as the lead actress in Fatou la Malienne. So in a way, I made the direct transition from being a student into being an actress.

The role of Fatou la Malienne must have been a very tough part for a first-time experience…

Yes, I knew it would be, but the intensity of that part was what made it worthwhile. It was a part which deserved all my respect. It was about a violent happening, but it was not about something happening solely in Africa. Fatou's tragedy could have happened just in any community in the world.

Daniel Vigne, the director, was himself very much involved in the African culture…

He first read about Fatou's story in a newspaper. She was living in France, but was brought back to Africa, forcefully married there, before she could make her way back to France. Daniel met with her in order to know more about her. He thought her story was very moving. He was also interested in the fact that communities' traditions, whether bad or good, often live on even outside their respecrtive motherlands.

How did you prepare for the role ?

I tried to be as natural as possible. I didn't have any grounding in acting anyway. I worked for two days with a professional actress who kindly tought me a few tricks of the trade. I also tried to follow Daniel's vision, talking as much as possible with him. Communication is always an essential part of the acting process.

Didn't you meet the real Fatou ?

I did. I was impressed by her capacity to be reborn after the psychological and physical trauma she went through. But she just let bygones be bygones and decided to look ahead.

The Malian community responded very heatedly to the film…

Yes. Reading the script, I felt this was a disturbing subject. Talking about it, I could see that people were perturbed by it. After making the film, the reactions that most moved me were some Malian people saying that the film made them feel morally involved. More negative reactions came mainly from people who felt being got at, even though the film was never meant to be a judgment on the Malian community. The most surprising reaction came from a girl who told me that this story had also happened to her. She told me her story and I was like, very much impressed. So I think it was really important to make Fatou la Malienne, even more so as such a topic had rarely been tackled on television.

More than 8 million people saw that film when it first ran on television. Which means that more than 8 million people were made aware of some bad aspects of African traditions. What is your own position about such topics as excision ?

It's never been a running practice in our family, so we basically never talked about it at home. What most shocks me is that this practice is often being handed down from mother to daughter.

What did you do after Fatou la Malienne ?

I played in a television film with Charles Aznavour. It was a wonderful opportunity for me to meet this great man. The film was a light comedy shot rather swiftly in Prague. As I love jazz, I was particularly pleased when Charles Aznavour shared anecdotes with me about jazz personalities he knew personally. After that film, I played a very small role in Alain Chabat's Asterix and Obelix : Mission Cleopatre. It was interesting to discover the set of a big production for the first time.

Then came Nha Fala with Flora Gomes…

Yes. Through this film, I got to meet wonderful people and learn many things. For instance, I learnt how to speak Portuguese Creole, which is a very good thing, for I originally wanted to be an interpreter. (Smiles) Moreover, playing in a musical was like a childhood dream come true. I got to sing and dance a little bit.

The film is also about breaking taboos and traditions…

Yes. I play Vita, a young woman in whose family singing is forbidden. It is said that women who dare sing always die soon after. It's not a real tradition, it's more like a metaphor for the right to freedom of expression. So this young woman goes to France, falls in love there, sings, and returns to her motherland to show her family and community that singing means much less a death than a new birth for women. This film really contains an important message about the importance of expression in life.

What was the shooting of the dance scenes like ?

Those scenes were shot mostly in Cape Verde. What was funny was that the number of extras could change according to the time of day. They might have been 100 in the morning, and then 50 in the afternoon ! (Laughs) Flora Gomes worked with a troupe of great Guinean comedians who have a lot of energy. Most of the songs were recorded in a recording studio, then performed, and additional voices were added later. At first, my character is more like a witness. But after she's fallen in love, she discovers her voice and finds out through that process what it is to really be alive.

What is Flora Gomes like on the set ?

He's very specific yet trusts all his comedians. But it has to be said that most comedians on the set of Nha Fala were non-professionals. For the dance scenes, he let people be free in their movements, it was not always slick choreographies, and part of the film's magic stems from this.

Robin Gatto & Yannis Polinacci
Translation : Robin Gatto