Born in Paris in 1952, Olivier Barlet graduated from EAP-ESCP and Diplom-Kaufmann and has published numerous translations of German books on Africa and English by African authors.
He was also a literary agent specialized on Africa.
A member of the French Syndicate of Film Critics, he has written the film pages of Africa International, Africa-Asia and Continental magazines, then since 1997 of the magazine and the Africultures website where he has published nearly 1800 articles, and Afriscope magazine (2007-2017). He was from 1997 to 2004 editor-in-chief of the magazine Africultures.
He was also president of the association Africultures from 1997 to 2008, then treasurer until 2016, and is still director of publications.
From 1992 to 2018, he founded and co-directed with Sylvie Chalaye at Editions L'Harmattan the Images plurielles collection, dedicated to cinema and theatre.
In 2004, he supported the creation of the African Federation of Film Critics and its website at www.africine.org, and led numerous practical workshops on film criticism in Africa.
It is at the origin of the website afrimages.net which brings together academics and critics, and includes in archives the links to their articles by categories.
He is a programming advisor for the Africa Film Festival in Apt (South-East of France) and is part of the programming team of the Tënk creative documentary platform.
From 2018 to 2020, he covered major festivals for the daily Le Soleil (Dakar).
At the Cannes Film Festival 2023, he received the Achievement Award for Film Critics awarded by the Arab Cinema Center.
Main works and their translations:
- Les Cinémas d'Afrique noire, le regard en question, L'Harmattan, 1996 - prix Art et Essai du CNC 1997 et traduit en anglais (African Cinemas : decolonizing the gaze, Zed Books, London, 2000), en italien (Il Cinema africano : lo sguardo in questione, L'Harmattan Italia/COE, 1998) et en allemand (Afrikanische Kinowelten : die Dekolonisierung des Blicks, Horlemann/Arte, 2001)
- Les cinémas d'Afrique des années 2000, L'Harmattan, 2012 (traduction en anglais : Contemporary African Cinema, Michigan State University Press, août 2016 - traduction en arabe : publiée par le Festival du film africain de Louxor 2019, traduction en espagnol Cine africano contemporáneo - Perspectivas críticas, Catarata ediciones, Madrid, 2021)
Curriculum vitae.
Archives des articles sur les archives d'Afrimages
Page wikipedia : [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivier_Barlet]