Every once in a while, people are blessed with the presence of a person who's work will live for generations. Idrissa Ouedrago was one filmmaker whose work we were and are still blessed to experience. The movie maven, who hailed from Burkina Faso, passed away on Sunday 18^th February 2018 at the age of 64.
Idrissa came to international attention in 1989 with Yaaba (Grandmother), the story of two children who make friends with an old woman who has been outcast as a witch by her village. Yaaba won the FIPRESCI Critics' Prize and a Special Mention from the Ecumenical Jury at the Cannes Film Festival, among other accolades.
In the 1990's, he produce a movie titled Tilai (The Law), about a man who returns to his village to discover his father has married the woman he loves. Tilai won the Grand Prize at both Cannes and FESPACO. He also directed Samba Traore, a film about a thief who returns to his village. The movie won a Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 1992.
His many achievements and his work show what an extraordinary dedication he had to storytelling. In their obituaries, Variety hailed him as "a towering figure of African cinema' and The New York Times described him as "legendary," while on Twitter, Burkina Faso president Roch Marc Christian Kabore said the world had "lost a filmmaker of immense talent," who "truly contributed to raising the profile of Burkinabe and African cinema beyond our borders… Africa is losing one of its most valuable ambassadors in the field of culture."
You can get to watch his award-winning movie Yaaba only on Showmax in Africa as we bid goodbye to the legend.
https://youtu.be/z2swWIqEA3s