Med Hondo
Med Hondo | |
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West Indies (1979) |
Med Hondo (born Mohamed Abid; 4 May 1935 – 2 March 2019) was a Mauritanian-born French director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. Considered a founding father of African cinema, he is known for his controversial films dealing with issues such as race relations and colonization.
In his later years, Hondo became known for dubbing Hollywood hits that included Shrek, The Lion King, The Nutty Professor, and Se7en.[3]
Biography
Hondo was born in 1935 in Ain Bni Mathar, to Morocco.[4] His mother was Mauritanian and his father Senegalese.[5][6] In 1954, Hondo went to Rabat, Morocco, to train to become a chef at the International Hotel School there.[5][7] He emigrated to France in 1959 and found work first in Marseille and then in Paris, variously as a cook, farm labourer, waiter, dockworker and delivery man.[5][6] He found that he and other African immigrants were unable to gain work in their chosen professions, and in the menial jobs they could find, they were paid less than the French.[7] The difficulty of making a living during this time, as well as the racism he experienced, eventually provided inspiration for Hondo's films, including Soleil O (1970) and Les Bicots-nègres, vos voisins (1974).[8]
He began to take classes in acting and directing, and studied under French actress
In the late 1960s, Hondo started taking small acting roles in television and films.
Hondo also worked frequently as a
Med Hondo explained on his website
Hondo died in Paris on 2 March 2019, aged 83.[20]
Filmography
Director
- 1967: Soleil O'
- 1974: Arabs and Niggers, Your Neighbours)
- 1975: Sahel la faim pourquoi
- 1977: Nous aurons toute la mort pour dormir
- 1979: West Indies
- 1986: Sarraounia
- 1994: Lumière noire (Black Light)
- 1998: Watani, un monde sans mal
- 2004: Fatima, l'Algérienne de Dakar
Actor
- 1964: Les verts pâturages (TV Movie)
- 1965: Belphégor (TV Mini-Series) as Gaillac
- 1965: Seule à Paris (TV Series)
- 1965: Bob Morane (TV Series) as Notomi, le guide indien
- 1966: Retour à Bacoli (TV Movie) as Un tirailleur
- 1967: Un homme de tropas Florent
- 1968: Tante Zita as James
- 1969: A Walk with Love and Death as Entertainer
- 1974: Aux frontières du possible (TV Series) as Le docteur Sosian Cisse
- 1975: Jo Gaillard (TV Series) as Carlos
- 1977: The Ambassadors as Med
- 1978: Safrana ou le droit à la parole as Récitant / Narrator (voice)
- 1989–1991: Commissaire Moulin (TV Series) as Max
- 1990: 1871 as Karl Marx
- 1997: La divine poursuite as the pilot
- 2000: Antilles sur Seine as Horace
- 2003: Funky Cops (TV Series) as Ace (French version, voice)
- 2006: Incontrôlable as Rex (voice)
- 2006: Asterix and the Vikings as pirate lookout (voice)
Dubbing
- 1982: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi[5]
- 1984: Beverly Hills Cop as Eddie Murphy's Axel Foley
- 1984: Best Defense as Eddie Murphy's Lieutenant T.M. Landry[16]
- 1994: The Lion King as Rafiki
- 1995: Se7en as Morgan Freeman's Detective Lt. William Somerset[16]
- 1996: The Nutty Professor as Eddie Murphy's Sherman Klump[16]
- 2001: Samurai Jack as Aku
- 2001: Shrek as Eddie Murphy's Donkey[17]
- 2003: Xiaolin Showdown as Dojo
- 2004: Shrek 2 as Donkey
- 2007: Shrek the Third as Donkey
- 2010: Shrek Forever After as Donkey
Footnotes
- ^ "Med Hondo: A founding father of African cinema". www.aljazeera.com. 1 June 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
- ^ a b Obenson, Tambay (3 March 2019). "Med Hondo, the Firebrand Pioneer of African Cinema, Dies". IndieWire. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
- ^ Sanogo, Aboubakar (May–June 2020). "By Any Means Necessary: Med Hondo". Film Comment. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
- ^ See medhondo.com, Med Hondo's former official website.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Biography, official site.
- ^ a b Sherzer (1996), p. 173.
- ^ a b c d Ukadike (2002), p. 57.
- ^ a b c Sherzer (1996), p. 174.
- ^ Murphy (2007), p. 71.
- ^ a b Ukadike (2002), p. 58.
- ^ Sherzer (1996), p. 175.
- ^ Reid (1986).
- ^ Harvard Film Archive.
- ^ Locarno International Film Festival official site.
- ^ "12th Moscow International Film Festival (1981)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
- ^ a b c d L'Humanité (1997).
- ^ Canadian Online Explorer(2002).
- ^ Med Hondo's open letter to Danny Glover, medhondo.com. Archived 23 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine (French and English).
- ^ "The Interview: Med Hondo, filmmaker and actor - France 24". France 24. 26 June 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
- ^ Baye Ndiaye, Babacar (2 March 2019). "Décès à Paris du cinéaste mauritanien Med Hondo". Cridem.org. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
References
Books
- Dedieu, Jean-Philippe (2012). La Parole Immigrée. Les Migrants Africains dans l'Espace Public en France (1960-1995). Klincksieck. pp. 149–187. ISBN 978-2-252-03828-4.
- Murphy, David; Patrick Williams (2007). Postcolonial African Cinema: Ten Directors. ISBN 978-0-7190-7203-1.
- Sherzer, Dina; Madeleine Cottenet-Hage (1996). Cinema, Colonialism, Postcolonialism: Perspectives from the French and Francophone World. ISBN 0-292-77703-5.
- Signaté, Ibrahim (1994). Med Hondo. Un Cinéaste Rebelle. ISBN 2-708-70584-9.
- ISBN 0-8166-4004-1.
Other references
- Reid, Mark; Blum, Sylvie (31 March 1986). "Med Hondo Interview: Working Abroad". Jump Cut. Retrieved 24 August 2009.
- "Shrek adapté par Sam Mendes" (in French). Canadian Online Explorer. 17 October 2002. Archived from the originalon 7 June 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
- "Directors in Focus — African Perspectives: Med Hondo". Harvard Film Archive. 2006. Retrieved 24 August 2009.
- "Eddie Murphy Change de Voix, Med Hondo Evincé". L'Humanité (in French). 9 April 1997. Archived from the original on 16 June 2007. Retrieved 26 August 2009.
- "Winners of the Golden Leopard". Locarno International Film Festival Official Site. Retrieved 26 August 2009.
- "Biography". Med Hondo's Official Site. Archived from the original on 28 January 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2009.
External links
- Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 19 April 2018)
- Med Hondo at IMDb
- Med Hondo at Behind The Voice Actors