IDRISSA OUÉDRAOGO

(21 January 1954–18 February 2018)

Idrissa Ouédraogo, who has died aged 64, was one of the few great filmmakers to emerge from the African continent. Born in 1954 in Banfora, Burkina Faso – then Upper Volta – Ouédraogo was the son of farmers, but was born in his country’s capital city, Ouagadougou, where he also died. It was there that, after primary school, he began his serious education, later studying at the African Institute for Cinema Studies (where he graduated with a masters’ degree), in Kiev and in Paris. Before leaving for the USSR, he set up his own film company, The Future of Films, for whom he directed a number of shorts, starting with Poko (1981). His feature films largely focused on rural African life and he employed nonprofessional performers and members of his own family, most of whom could not even read. Thus, he encouraged his actors to improvise, to draw on their emotions rather than to repeat dialogue he had written. His third film, Tilaï (The Law) (1990), which he also co-produced and co-wrote, won the Grand Prix at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival. And Samba Traoré (1993), about a petty thief plagued by guilt, was nominated for the Silver Bear at the 43rd Berlin Film Festival. He also contributed a segment to the omnibus film 11'09"01 September 11 (2002), alongside Alejandro González Iñárritu, Claude Lelouch, Ken Loach and Sean Penn.

JAMES CAMERON-WILSON