KCL CMCI Research Seminar with industry guest speaker Kalista Sy
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The Department of Culture, Media and Creative Industries at King’s College London is delighted to welcome Senegalese online television series screenwriter, director and producer Kalista Sy for the monthly CMCI research staff seminar.
The event will start with a brief introduction to Kalista Sy by Dr Estrella Sendra (Department of Culture, Media and Creative Industries at King’s College London), followed by the screening of the first episode of the series Maîtresse d’un homme marié (Mistress of a Married Man) and a discussion with the filmmaker.
About the guest speaker
Khadidiatou Sy, known as Kalista Sy, is a Senegalese screenwriter, director and producer, who became famous in Africa and beyond following the success of her first series, Maîtresse d’un homme marié (Mistress of a Married Man), known as MDHM. Maîtresse d’un homme marié is the first Senegalese women-led television series where women are placed at the very centre of the narrative. The series, first released on 25 January 2019, and broadcasted online via YouTube, became viral, with over 5 million viewers per episode, and being compared to Sex and the City in international media. In 2019, following the international success of her first series, Maîtresse d’un homme marié, Kalista Sy made it to the BBC’s list of the 100 most inspiring and influential women from around the world.
Aware of her leading role in centring women’s stories on Screen, with particular reference to Senegal, she enjoys comparing herself to American television producer and screenwriter Shonda Rhimes, stating: “She’s certainly not Shonda Rhimes, but she has no less merit than her. Their worlds differ, as do their paths and goals. Yet, they share a common struggle: to tell stories that resonate with their lived experiences”. Even if she feels she still has a long way to go, she is a determined entrepreneur convinced that it is possible to play a leading role in international screen media. She studied Journalism at the Higher Institute of Entrepreneurship and Management. As a graduate journalist, she joined various editorial teams, including 2STV, with a remarkable career before moving to screenwriting. In 2019, she directed and produced the first season of Mistress of a Married Man, an adaptation from her first chronicles, with 50 episodes which soon fostered fandom communities across the globe. The key to the success and even controversy was the identification, particularly by women, who felt that the narration belonged to women. Today, Kalista Sy is the CEO of the production company Kalista TV, which continues her mission to create content on women, for women and by women. Her second series, Yaay 2.0 (Mother 2.0) addresses the subject of motherhood and infertility, and her third series, Hair Lover, deals with rivalry in Senegalese society.
About Mistress of a Married Man
MDHM is an intersectional and complex site of negotiation of feminism in contemporary Senegal. Launched in 2019, it is the very first Senegalese series that tells women’s stories from a woman’s points of view. The series has been discussed as a ‘soap opera’, ‘melodrama’, ‘Afronovela’ or Senegalese screen world. Its plot revolves around several strong women, who, together, represent the various forms of everyday struggles embodied by women in Senegal, Africa, and the whole world. Themes include sex and sexuality, infidelity, polygamy, mental health and revolve around the representation of Senegalese women in marriage and the family. MDHM was hugely successful from the start, with millions of views and fandom communities in and beyond Dakar, being praised as the first series in the country whose story was conceived and told from a woman’s point of view.
The speaker will be introduced by Dr Estrella Sendra (CMCI, King’s College London), who, as part of the Screen Worlds ERC-funded research project led by Prof Lindiwe Dovey at SOAS, University of London, wrote the chapter ‘La Maîtresse d’un homme marié: Re-tracing Woman(hood) in Senegalese Screen Worlds as part of the forthcoming book Contemporary African Screen Worlds,edited by Dovey, Lindiwe Dovey, Añulika Agina and Michael W. Thomas, for Duke University Press.
