Souley Oumarou
Film Director
I am Souley Oumarou Diallo Mo Djalanta Jaydo. It literally means the one who doesn’t laugh with any idiots. For my mother, I’m koizey yawo, meaning the visitor of great kings (I prefer that one).
I grew up in the landlocked West African country of Niger. When I was about twelve years old, my best friend gave me a vintage Kodak camera. He got it from his dad, who was a student in Senegal in the sixties. The camera fascinated me. I was never able to use it because I could not afford to buy the $2 film rolls. I loved the sound of the shutter releasing in the empty chamber. I loved the ergonomics, and even the fonts of the yellow and orange Kodak logo. Years later in New York City, my roommate Micah Schaeffer introduced me to filmmaking. He was a student at NYU Tisch at the time. I purchased a Mac computer at the Apple store on 5th Avenue in New York City and a copy of Final Cut Pro 5. I bought some Diana Weynand training series books and started learning to edit.
After business school, I worked as a senior tax analyst on Wall Street for 6 years. Then, I attended the George Washington University Documentary Institute. There, I completed “Life in Strides” with 5 other students. It is an 18-minute documentary about Jake Luoma, a young man on the spectrum. He took therapy horseback rides at Lift Me Up, a local therapeutic riding place.
Since 2016 I have been filming in Africa, the Middle East and the United States.
