Ambassador Sembene
Was the African ambassador Sembene named after the Senegalese director Ousmane Sembene, best known for Xala?
shareI would imagine so, especially in light of the fact that the character is at one point refered to by his first and last names: Cissé Sembene.
Of course, the last name is the same as the famous African filmmaker Ousmane Sembene and the first that of Souleymane Cissé, another famous African filmmaker, best known for a film called Yeelen.
I did some searches to see if Iosseliani and those directors had crossed paths in any notable way, and found that Cissé was on the 1996 Venice Film Festival jury that awarded Iosseliani's film, "Brigands, Chapitre VII" the grand special jury prize (http://www.imdb.com/Sections/Awards/Venice_Film_Festival/1996). I also found a picture of Iosseliani with Sembene and others at the 1993 San Francisco Film Festival (http://www.criticjudystone.com/photos.html).