Guest of honor for Black History Month, filmmaker Apolline Traoré is coming to Montreal to present her fifth feature film, Sira, an African heroine. Panorama Audience Award at the last Berlinale, the film represented Burkina Faso at the 2024 Oscars.
Daughter of a diplomat born in Ouagadougou, Burkinabè filmmaker Apolline Traoré has traveled widely. Earning a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Emerson College School of Arts in Boston in 1998, she moved to Hollywood where she worked on independent film projects. In 2001, at age 25, while filming the series Monia and Rama in Burkina Faso, she surprised more than one by giving orders to men older than her on the set. Three years later, his short film Kounandi is in selection at Sundance and TIFF. Wishing to make films on the status of women and African socio-political problems, she returned to live in her native country in 2008.
“I lived outside my country for a long time and when I came back, I had a lot of time to adapt. I had lost almost all my bearings, the habit of speaking French; I had really ingrained in me the American rhythm and the American vision, especially in cinema, culture. They even called me the little American girl. This perspective helped me a lot to understand Africa and my country,” confides the director we met last Thursday.
Sira trailer
Drawing on her American experience, Apolline Traoré managed to establish herself and gain respect in the cinematographic world with her female portraits, such as Me Zaphira (2013), which earned him two prizes at the African Movie Academy Awards, and Borders (2017), which won the audience prize at World Cinema Amsterdam.
The person I admired the most in my life and who made me who I am is my mother. When my father became a diplomat, she left her job as a lawyer to take care of luggage, travel, four children and all that stuff.
Apolline Traoré, director
“In each country, she didn’t just take care of the home and receptions, she always found a job. I think that’s what inspired me to show all the capabilities of an African woman in the environment in which we live. »
In the field
Shocked by one of the deadliest attacks to occur in Burkina Faso since 2015, Apolline Traoré begins writing her fifth feature film. In his own opinion, the result is naive. Wishing to learn more about victims of kidnapping and terrorism, she goes to a camp for displaced people in Dori, Burkina Faso.
“I realized that I didn’t know anything at all. I then got permission from the army to do a little research. I also spoke a lot with soldiers so that they could tell me a little about how they operate. I had some great encounters, in fact, I would say rather memorable ones. »
His meeting with a mother shot in one shoulder who had to walk five days in the desert with her baby on her back and her 7-year-old child in her hand will be decisive: “It is from this testimony that I I decided to make a strong heroine, Sira, because she exists. For me, this mother is even stronger than my character. »
PHOTO PROVIDED BY K-FILMS AMERICA
Scene from Sira, an African heroineby Apolline Traoré
Camped in the Sahel these days, Sira, an African heroine features a young Fulani woman, Sira (Nafissatou Cissé), who, on her way to her fiancé’s village, is the victim of an attack by jihadists. Taking refuge in a cave near the terrorist camp, she discovers the violence suffered by sex slaves from various countries, including Niger and Nigeria, as well as the homosexuality of one of the defenders of Sharia law, which condemns sexual relations. between people of the same sex.
Terrorism is not an evil that only affects Burkina Faso, but all areas of the Sahel and South Africa. You cannot commit these cruel acts in the name of a god, claim to be a fighter for Allah or follow the doctrines of Islam. As for homosexuality, I added this layer to show the total hypocrisy of these bandits.
Apolline Traoré, director
Color of hope
It was following a terrorist attack in Burkina Faso that Apolline Traoré had to resolve to shoot her film in Mauritania, the Burkinabè army, which was to ensure the security of the set, having been requested by the authorities to protect the citizens. There, she is captured by the blue of the sky.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Apolline Traore
“In the desert you feel like you’re free, but at the same time you’re scared because it’s silent and everything is yellow and ocher. And then all you see is blue sky. It was therefore necessary for Sira to wear blue, this color of hope which contrasts with this setting of sand and stones,” explains the director, revealing that before each shoot, she dives back into the work of Krzysztof Kieślowski (Three colors: Blue, White, Red).
During the three months, it was the Mauritanian army which watched over the filming of Sira, an African heroine, which was not easy. In addition to a sandstorm, captured during Sira’s rape scene, rain regularly slowed down filming for a few days. A “star watchman” was even hired to prevent the team from being surprised by a storm in the middle of the night.
Despite the obstacles, the filmmaker did not have to change the hopeful story she wanted to tell. “My big message is that the only way for terrorism to leave our area is to understand and accept each other. If we are not careful, we risk ending up in tragedy or genocide. In Burkina Faso, we have more than 60 ethnic groups; we have always gotten along very well, we have always lived in this harmony, in this love, but we are losing and I think that is what scares me the most. »
Sira, an African heroine is currently in theaters. Apolline Traoré will be present at the screenings at the Cinémathèque québécoise, Saturday, February 3 at 7 p.m., and at the Cinéma Public, Sunday, February 4 at 5:30 p.m.