Idrissa Ouedraogo

Idrissa Ouédraogo
Idrissa Ouédraogo , Cines del Sur 2007
Born	(1954-01-21) 21 January 1954 (age 63) Banfora, Upper Volta
Occupation	Film director, screenwriter and producer

Idrissa Ouédraogo (born 21 January 1954 in Banfora, Upper Volta) is a film director from Burkina Faso who creates films set within Africa, often exploring the conflict between rural and city and tradition and modernity. 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.

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 to gain a more advance education, where he attended the African Institute for Cinema Studies (Institut Africain d’Etudes Cinématographiques) completing his studies in 1981 with a masters. After studying in Kiev in the USSR he moved to Paris, where he graduated from the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (IDHEC) in 1985 with a DEA from the Sorbonne.

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". In 1981, before moving to Kiev, he worked for the Burkina Faso Directorate of Cinema Production (Direction de la Production Cinématographique du Burkina Faso), where he directed several short films. His earliest short, Pourquoi (1981), a man dreams of killing his wife, but is unsure if it is a dream or reality. He followed this with another short film, Poko (1981), which won the short film prize at that years Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO). Poko follows a young pregnant woman who dies after failing to reach medical facilities whilst being transported on a cart. The film highlighted the fact that despite paying their taxes, the poor gain little real help in day to day necessities from the government. This was followed by the shorts Les Écuelles (The Platters) (1983), Les Funérailles du Larle Naba, (Larle Naba's Funeral) (1984), Ouagadougou, Ouaga deux roues (Ouagadougou, Ouaga Two Wheels) (1985) and Issa le tisserand (Issa the Weaver) (1985). 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.