Idrissa Ouédraogo (21 January 1954 – 18 February 2018) was a Burkinabé filmmaker. His work often explored the conflict between rural and city life and tradition and modernity in his native Burkina Faso and elsewhere in Africa. He is best known for his feature film Tilaï, which won the Grand Prix at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival and Samba Traoré (1993), which was nominated for the Silver Bear award at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival.

Early life and education

Idrissa Ouédraogo was born in Banfora, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), in 1954. He grew up in the town of Ouahigouya in the northern region of his homeland, and in 1976 he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree. To ensure a better life his farmer parents sent him to Ouagadougou for further education, where he attended the African Institute for Cinema Studies () completing his studies in 1981 with a masters. After studying in Kiev in the USSR he moved to Paris, where he graduated from the (IDHEC) in 1985 with a DEA from the Sorbonne.

Early career

On graduating from IAFEC in 1981, Ouédraogo set up his own independent film company, "The Future of Films", which became "Les Films de la Plaine". His last short was Tenga (1985), which explores a villager who after moving to the city, returns to his hometown. In these shorts Ouédraogo explores themes and film techniques that he would return to in his future feature films. Centered around a moment of change in the Mòoré culture, where the lives of the children of a family are torn apart by the unwavering adherence to tradition in a rapidly transforming modern world. The success of both Yam Daabo and Tilaï placed pressure on Ouédraogo to produce another international success, and his next film Karim and Sala was rushed to be shown at the 12th Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) and was not well received and suffered from poor distribution. Ouédraogo followed Samba Traoré with The Heart's Cry (Le Cri du cœur; 1994), Kini and Adams (1997), Anger of the Gods (La Colère des dieux; 2003) and Kato Kato (2006).

Ouédraogo's output has been criticised as being too focused on appealing to audiences in Africa and the West. Pfaff's view is that Ouédraogo's work is too focused on non-African audiences and alienates African viewers. During a March 2015 interview with Le Monde, Ouédraogo underlined what he believed to be three issues facing the film industry of Burkina Faso. Among those issues are the lack of sufficient knowledge and professionalism when it comes to cinematography. Funding shortages and the absence of a demanding local market are the two other problems he mentioned. During his last few years, Ouédraogo's relatives noted his disappointment in modern African cinema due to what he considered to be deficiency in talent and in means of production.

At around 5:30 a.m. GMT on 18 February 2018, Ouédraogo died at the Bois clinic in Ouagadougou at the age of 64 as a result of an unspecified "illness", according to a statement by the UNCB (Union nationale des cinéastes du Burkina). Shortly after his death, Burkinabé president Roch Marc Christian Kaboré said that his country "had lost a filmmaker of immense talent".

Filmography

Shorts

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Release year !! Title

|-

|1981 || Pourquoi? (Why?)

|-

|1981 || Poko

|-

|1983 || Les Écuelles (The Platters)

|-

|1983 || Les funérailles du Larle Naba (Larle Naba's Funeral)

|-

|1984 || Ouagadougou, Ouaga deux roues (Ouagadougou, Ouaga Two Wheels)

|-

|1984 || Issa le Tisserand (Issa the Weaver)

|-

|1985 || Tenga

|-

|1991 || Obi

|-

|1994 || Afrique, mon Afrique (Africa, My Africa)

|-

|1996 || Samba et Leuk le lièvra (Samba and Leuk the Rabbit)

|-

|1994 || Gorki

|-

|1997 || Les parias du cinéma (The Outcasts of Cinema)

|-

|2001 || Scénarios du Sahel

|-

| colspan="2" | Source:

|}

Films

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Release year !! Title

|-

|1987 || Yam Daabo (The Choice)

|-

|1989 || Yaaba (Grandmother)

|-

|1990 || Tilaï (The Law)

|-

|1991 || Karim and Sala

|-

|1993 || Samba Traoré

|-

|1994 || Le cri du cœur (The Heart's Cry)

|-

|1997 || Kini and Adams

|-

|2003 || La colère des dieux (Anger of the Gods)

|-

|2006 || Kato Kato

|-

| colspan="2" | Source:

|}

Television series

  • Entre l'arbre et l'ecorce (1999)
  • Kadi Jolie (2001)

Segments

  • Lumière and Company (1995)
  • 11'09"01 September 11 (2002)

See also

  • Cinema of Burkina Faso

References

  • Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database
  • Ouédraogo on Kini and Adams
  • Film references
  • Idrissa Ouedraogo at Culturebase.com