Alexander Abela

{{short description|British-French filmmaker and producer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Alexander Abela | other_names = | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1964|11|30}} | birth_name = Alexander Abela | birth_place = Coventry, England | death_date = | death_place = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | alma_mater = | education = | height = | years_active = 1997–present | known_for = | spouse = | children = | awards = | father = | mother = | relatives = | signature = | website = | footnotes = | occupation = Director, producer, Editor, Cinematographer, writer }}

'''Alexander Abela''' (born 30 November 1964), is a British-French filmmaker, producer and writer.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alexander Abela |url=https://nwfilm.org/directors/alexander-abela/ |access-date=2021-10-09 |website=NW Film Center |language=en-US |archive-date=9 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009084043/https://nwfilm.org/directors/alexander-abela/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=online |first=CINEMA |title=Alexander Abela - Über diesen Star - cinema.de |url=https://www.cinema.de/stars/star/alexander-abela,5056827,ApplicationStar.html |access-date=2021-10-09 |website=www.cinema.de |language=de}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=October 2021|reason=source only gives Vorname:Alexander Nachname:Abela}} He is best known for directing the live action films ''Makibefo'', ''Souli'' and the animation film ''Zarafa''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alexander Abela |url=https://mubi.com/cast/alexander-abela |access-date=2021-10-09 |website=MUBI |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Alexander Abela: epd Film |url=https://www.epd-film.de/personen/alexander-abela |access-date=2021-10-09 |website=www.epd-film.de}}</ref>

==Personal life== He was born on 30 November 1964 in Coventry, England.<ref>{{Cite web |last=KG |first=imfernsehen GmbH & Co |title=Filmografie Alexander Abela |url=https://www.fernsehserien.de/alexander-abela/filmografie |access-date=2021-10-09 |website=fernsehserien.de |language=de}}</ref>

==Career== He studied physics and oceanography extensive with an ambition to be an oceanographer. He is a seasoned freediver and trained as a commercial diver (HSE Part I) as well. But in 1997, he began a film career instead of that.<ref name="Abela">{{Cite web |title=Personnes - Africultures : Abela Alexander |url=http://africultures.com/personnes/?no=3223 |access-date=2021-10-09 |website=Africultures |language=fr-FR}}</ref>

In 2001, he directed his maiden film ''Makibefo'', where he was also the producer and writer. The film has been shot in Madagascar in October 1998.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Alexander Abela (Chapter 1) |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/shakespeare-and-world-cinema/alexander-abela/377DCA38B734D26625E0B42BBC570AF9 |access-date=2021-10-09 |pages=23–54|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511760211.004 |isbn=9780511760211 }}</ref> The film casts with an English-speaking narrator, where all the roles are played by indigenous Antandroy people.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tribal Rituals on Sand Dunes Alexander Abela's Makibefo as a Transcultural Appropriation of Shakespeare's MacbethUdo Bomnüter, Literature Film Quarterly |url=https://lfq.salisbury.edu/_issues/48_2/tribal_rituals_on_sand_dunes_abelas_makibefo_as_a_transcultural_appropriation_of_shaespeare.html |access-date=2021-10-09 |website=lfq.salisbury.edu}}</ref> After the success of the film, he made his second film ''Souli'' in 2004, which also received the critics acclaim and screened many film festivals.<ref name="Abela"/> The film also revolved around a remote fishing village on the southwestern coast of Madagascar.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Calbi |first=Maurizio |date=2013 |title=Reiterating Othello: Spectral Media and the Rhetoric of Silence in Alexander Abela's Souli |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1057/9781137063762_4 |access-date=2021-10-09 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US |pages=63–79 |language=en |doi=10.1057/9781137063762_4|isbn=978-1-349-34184-9 }}</ref> In 2005, the film was nominated for the Grand Prix Award at the Paris Film Festival.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alexander Abela |url=https://cineuropa.org/en/filmography/215629/ |access-date=2021-10-09 |website=Cineuropa - the best of european cinema |language=en}}</ref> In 2009, he co-wrote the animation film ''Zarafa'' with Rémi Bezançon, and released theaters in 2011.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alexander Abela |url=https://en.unifrance.org/directories/person/325710/alexander-abela |access-date=2021-10-09 |website=en.unifrance.org |language=en}}</ref> In 2012, he produced two more films: ''Ojo De Agua'', and ''Ventilator Blues''.<ref name="Abela" />

==Filmography==

{| class="wikitable" |- ! Year !! Film !! Role !! Genre !! Ref. |- | 2001 || ''Makibefo'' || Director, writer, producer || Film|| |- | 2004 || ''Souli'' || Director, writer || Film|| |- | 2011 || ''La dernière frontière'' || Director, writer, Cinematographer, Editor || TV movie documentary|| |- | 2012 || ''Zarafa'' || Writer || Film|| |}

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb name|0008499}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abela, Alexander}} Category:Living people Category:1964 births Category:British film directors Category:Malagasy film directors Category:Mass media people from Coventry