Florence AYISI was born in 1962 in Cameroon, Central Africa. She obtained a degree in English from the University of Yaoundé, Cameroon. She moved to the UK for postgraduate studies in Film and Television where she obtained an MA in Producing and Directing, an MA in Theatre and Media Production and a Diploma in Television Production and Journalism.
Florence has taught in several Higher Education institutions in the U.K. including University of Sunderland, Coventry University and University of Glamorgan.
Florence currently teaches at the International Film School Wales, University of Wales, Newport, U.K. where she’s a Reader in Film Practice. Her teaching and research is underpinned by issues and ideas relating to documentary theory, post-colonial theory, representation, feminism, spectatorship in African Cinema, transnational cinemas, African Diaspora narratives, ethnography as a research method, and in mapping the aesthetic of documentary content.
Florence’s research is primarily practice-based. She has made documentary films in Tanzania and Cameroon. An award winning filmmaker, her films portray the affirmative aspects of African life, presenting unique and rare insights into lived experiences and the rich and dynamic cultures. Her films also celebrate the growing emancipation of African women; showing how women’s work and visions are at the vanguard of social and economic development.
In 2008, Florence was awarded the UK Film Council Breakthrough Brits Award for Film Talent.
Her latest film, Art of this Place: Women Artists in Cameroon (2011) is an intimate documentary portrait of the creative vision and passion of young female artist in contemporary Cameroon.
