{{Short description|Cameroonian filmmaker and academic (born 1962)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2023}} {{Infobox person | name = Florence Ayisi | image = | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1962}} | birth_place = Kumba | citizenship = Cameroon | education = | occupation = Filmmaker,<br>University teacher,<br>Academic,<br>Film director | years active = }}
'''Florence Ayisi''' (born in on 22 July 1962) is a filmmaker from Cameroon. Her film ''Sisters in Law'' was released in 2005, winning the Prix Art et Essai award at the Cannes Film Festival and a Peabody.
== Biography == Ayisi was born 22 July 1962 in Kumba, Cameroon.<ref>{{cite web |date=3 June 2008 |title=Biography of Florence Ayisi |url=http://www.africansuccess.org/visuFiche.php?lang=en&id=571 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181130155058/http://www.africansuccess.org/visuFiche.php?lang=en&id=571 |archive-date=30 November 2018 |access-date=19 February 2017 |website=African Success}}</ref> She earned a certificate in higher education in 1997 from the School of Education at the University of Sunderland. In 1989, she earned a BA from the University of Yaoundé in Cameroon. In 1989, she earned a MA in theatre and media production from the University of Hull and, in 1992, she earned an MA in film production from the Northern School of Film and Television at Leeds Metropolitan University.{{Cn|date=November 2024}}
Since 2000, Ayisi has taught film at the University of South Wales.<ref>{{cite web |title=University of South Wales - Florence Ayisil |url=http://staff.southwales.ac.uk/users/6797-fayisi01/ |access-date=19 Feb 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=White |first=Patricia |date=2006-01-01 |title=Cinema Solidarity: The Documentary Practice of Kim Longinotto |url=https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-film-media/40 |journal=Cinema Journal |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=120–128 |doi=10.1353/cj.2007.0008 |jstor=4137156 |s2cid=144270154|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Ayisi founded the production company Iris Films in 2005.
In 2005, she released her film ''Sisters in Law'', which went on to win multiple awards, including the Prix Art et Essai award at the Cannes Film Festival and a Peabody.<ref>{{Cite web |date=24 May 2005 |title=Cannes award for courtroom film |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4575655.stm |access-date=2017-03-02 |website=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Winner 2007 Independent Lens: Sisters in Law |url=http://www.peabodyawards.com/award-profile/sisters-in-law |access-date=2017-03-07 |work=Peabody Awards |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Florence Ayisi |url=http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/makers/fm623.shtml/ |access-date=2017-03-07 |website=Women Make Movies}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2008-05-10 |title=Hollywood embraces Britain's black film talent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/hollywood-embraces-britains-black-film-talent-825413.html |access-date=2017-03-07 |work=The Independent |language=en-GB}}</ref> The film received positive reviews.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Meskimmon |first1=Marsha |title=Women, the Arts and Globalization |last2=Rowe |first2=Dorothy C. |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=2012 |isbn=9780719096716 |page=10 |chapter=Editorial}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tchouaffé |first=Olivier Jean |date=2012 |title=Women in Film in Cameroon: Thérèse Sita-Bella, Florence Ayisi, Oswalde Lewat and Josephine Ndagnou |journal=Journal of African Cinemas |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=191–206 |doi=10.1386/jac.4.2.191_1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Malkowski |first=Jennifer |date=2007-06-01 |title=Reel Paradise / Sisters in Law |journal=Film Quarterly |language=en |volume=60 |issue=4 |pages=30–34 |doi=10.1525/fq.2007.60.4.30 |issn=0015-1386}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Maher |first1=Jennifer |last2=Moorman |first2=Marissa |date=Spring 2008 |title=A Black Camera Movie Review: Sisters in Law by Florence Ayisi; Kim Longinotto |journal=Black Camera |volume=22/23 |pages=120–122 |jstor=27761711}}</ref>
In 2007, she met Queen Eliszabeth II for her work's association with Commonwealth countries.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2012-02-23 |title=Honourees 2008 |url=http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/breakthroughbrits#Florence |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120223143732/http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/breakthroughbrits#Florence |archive-date=23 February 2012 |access-date=2017-03-07 |website=UK Film Council}}</ref> In 2008, she won the UK Film Council Breakthrough Brits Award for Film Talent in 2008.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" />
==Filmography== * ''Zanzibar Soccer Dreams'' (Florence Ayisi & Catalin Brylla, 2016, 64 mins) - * ''Transforming Lives: PNDP and Rural Development in Cameroon'' (2014, 35 mins) * ''Handing Down Time – Cameroon'' (2012, 55 mins) * ''Cameroonian Women in Motion'' (2012, 10 mins) * ''Art of this Place: Women Artists in Cameroon'' (2011, 40 mins)<ref name=":0" /> * ''Zanzibar Soccer Queens'' (2007/2008, 87 & 52 mins)<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=APa5CwAAQBAJ&pg=PT163|title=Political Animals: The New Feminist Cinema|last=Mayer|first=Sophie|date=2015-10-22|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=9780857729941|language=en}}</ref> * ''Our World in Zanzibar'' (2007, 35 mins)<ref name=":0" /> * ''My Mother: Isange'' (2005, 7 minutes)<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/sistersinlaw/filmmakers.html|title=Independent Lens . SISTERS IN LAW . The Filmmakers|website=www.pbs.org|access-date=2017-03-07|archive-date=2020-12-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201204083144/https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/sistersinlaw/filmmakers.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> * ''Sisters in Law'' (2005) (Florence Ayisi & Kim Longinotto, 2005, 104 mins) * ''Reflections'' (2003)<ref name=":1" />
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Further reading == *{{Cite journal|last1=Ayisi|first1=Florence|last2=Brylla|first2=Catalin|date=2013-05-08|title=The Politics of Representation and Audience Reception: Alternative Visions of Africa|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/506534|journal=Research in African Literatures|volume=44|issue=2|pages=125–141|issn=1527-2044|doi=10.2979/reseafrilite.44.2.125|s2cid=55659611 |url-access=subscription}}
==External links== *[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2021068/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1 Florence Ayisi] at Internet Movie Database
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayisi, Florence}} Category:1962 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century Cameroonian people Category:20th-century Cameroonian women Category:Alumni of Leeds Beckett University Category:Alumni of the University of Hull Category:Alumni of the University of Sunderland Category:Cameroonian cinematographers Category:Cameroonian documentary filmmakers Category:Cameroonian film directors Category:Cameroonian women cinematographers Category:Cameroonian women film directors Category:People associated with the University of South Wales Category:People from Southwest Region (Cameroon) Category:University of Yaoundé alumni Category:Women documentary filmmakers