© Guillaume Bénit
After completing her acting training in France (École de la Comédie de Saint-Étienne, Conservatoire de Lyon), Azani V. Ebengou studied French and Francophone Literature at Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA. Her Master's thesis, Le Théâtre Noir de Paris, 1975-1989: The Erased Memory of A Black Consciousness In The Making received the highest distinction.
As an actress, she starred in Aimer en stéréo by Haitian playwright Gaëlle Bien-Aimé, in the movie Not a Biopic by Australian director Madison Bycroft, as well as the Arte TV series Patience Mon Amour by French director Camille Duvelleroy. In 2022, she cofounded with Kaïnana Ramadani the theatre company Les Pleureuses de feu. Together, they wrote Freda, a solo show about a Black actress escaping the play in which she is supposed to portray Josephine Baker. Directed by Azani, the piece will premiere in April 2024 in Lyon.
Simultaneously, Azani is writing Kongo Chroniques, a theatre series in eight episodes. The project is supported by the Institut français du Congo in Pointe-Noire, as well as by the Label Jeunes textes en Liberté.
Submitted project: Kongo Chroniques, a theatre series in eight episodes that recounts the live of a Congolese family line throughout time, from precolonial times to the future.