Kayije Kagame

Kayije Kagame (b. 1987, Switzerland) develops her work across the fields of performing arts, visual arts, and cinema. A graduate of the Acting Department at ENSATT in Lyon, she began her career working with Robert Wilson, collaborating on several of his productions and participating twice in the Watermill Center Summer Program Residency on Long Island. In 2021, she was an artist-in-residence at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris.

Her career has been shaped by international collaborations with artists including Damiaan De Schrijver of the Belgian collective TG STAN, Gaël Kamilindi, Alice Diop, Carole Karemera, Jérôme Bel, Olivier Saillard, and Ali Cherri. Her stage works include the diptychs “SANS GRACE / AVEC GRACE” (2019–2020) and “INTÉRIEUR VIE / INTÉRIEUR NUIT” (2022–2023).

On screen, she played the leading role in Alice Diop’s “Saint Omer,” which received the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival in 2022. Her performance earned her a place representing Switzerland in the European Shooting Stars program at the 2023 Berlinale, as well as a César nomination in the Revelations category. She also co-directed “Night Shift” with Hugo Radi, winner of the Silver Leopard for Best Swiss Short Film at Locarno.

In 2025–2026, she performs solo in a stage adaptation inspired by Robin Coste Lewis’ “The Voyage of the Black Venus,” directed by Alice Diop. She is currently writing her first fiction feature film and continues her research into performance. She also teaches at HEAD – Genève and ECAL. In 2026, she was awarded the Swiss Performing Arts Award.

Kayije Kagame is an Onassis AiR Fellow for 2026/27.