Justyna Obasi Directs Oumou Sangare Music Video In Celebration of International Women's Day

Via production company Love Song, Justyna Obasi has directed “Wassulu Don,” a new music video by Malian singer and songwriter Oumou Sangare in celebration of International Women’s Day (3/8).

The Grammy Award-winning Sangare is a powerful feminist icon who has used her platform to speak out about women’s rights for decades. She has won countless awards and counts among her fans Beyoncé and Alicia Keys. Truly a global artist, her new album brings together her distinctive Malian sound and voice with elements of blues, folk, and rock to create a sound unhindered by borders and genres. “Wassulu Don” is a cry of joy and pride in Sangare’s mother’s home region of Wassoulou in Mali. The video was filmed in Ghana, in Accra, Aburi, and the Akuapem mountains.

Obasi, an alum of SHOOT’s 2020 New Directors Showcase, said, “The concept for the video was to create different vignettes with strong female characters and juxtapose them creating a unique visual canon about home from a female perspective, that goes beyond blood relations and extends to friendships and community.”

The director further noted, “For this video I had to think of cultural heritage movies by Diop Mambety, Ousmane Sembene, or Abderrahmane Sissako and how to carry those beautiful documentations of African life and family structures into the current visual reality and touch people in and out of Africa. I envisioned poetic images like memories that are not tied to a specific time or place, rather focus on the feeling. Images that are stripped down to the core of human emotions.” 

The theme for International Women’s Day is “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow,” recognizing the contribution of women and girls around the world who are leading the charge on climate change adaptation, mitigation, and response, to build a more sustainable future for all.