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Burkina filmmaker Ouedraogo dead at 64

By AFP
Burkina Faso Idrissa Ouedraogo: A filmmaker of immense talent.  By BERTRAND GUAY AFP
FEB 18, 2018 LISTEN
Idrissa Ouedraogo: "A filmmaker of immense talent". By BERTRAND GUAY (AFP)

Burkinabe filmmaker Idrissa Ouedraogo, a towering figure in African cinema, died Sunday at the age of 64, the national film makers guild announced in a statement.

Ouedraogo produced or directed some 40 films from the 1980s to the 2000s, set in Africa and often exploring the strains between modern urban and traditional rural lifestyles.

In 1990, he won the Grand Prix at Cannes Film Festival for "Tilai", an African version of a Greek tragedy about family dishonour, which is set in a village and is probably his best-known work internationally.

"Burkina Faso has lost a filmmaker of immense talent," President Roch Marc Christian Kabore said in a statement.

Ouedraogo "worked hard to raise the profile of Burkinabe and African cinema outside our borders," he added.

He died at 5:30 am (0530 GMT) of an unspecified "illness" in a hospital in the capital Ouagadougou, the union of filmmakers said.

In 2003, Idrissa Ouedraogo headed the jury at FESPACO, Africa's biggest film festival In 2003, Idrissa Ouedraogo headed the jury at FESPACO, Africa's biggest film festival

Ouedraogo began his career as a cinematographer on the 1981 movie "Poko" which won the best short film award at FESPACO, Africa's biggest film festival.

After completing his film studies at the prestigious Sorbonne in Paris, he created his first feature-length film "Yam daabo" (The Choice) about poverty-stricken villagers in the Sahel who must choose to stay and await international aid or leave for a more fertile region.

As well as winning at Cannes, "Tilai" went on to win the Golden Stallion of Yennenga, the top prize at FESPACO, in 1991.

He headed the FESPACO jury in 2003.

Ouedraogo also worked in theatre, including at the prestigious Comedie-Francaise in Paris.

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