Originally published in Sisters of the Screen: Women of Africa on Film Video and Television. Africa World Press, Trenton, NJ, 2000.
Interview held at the 15th Edition of FESPACO in February-March 1997, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Translated from French.
You have certainly been visible on the media landscape in Burkina Faso. How did you enter the world of cinema?
I am a director at the National Television of Burkina Faso. I see film and television as a vocation. I entered in the field of television in 1985, through a recruitment campaign for journalists to enhance national television programming. Once there, I observed that there was no programming for women. Thus, I decided to create a program called "Women and Development", which actually focused on the participation of women in the development process. After creating these programs, I went into directing.
For me, directing is not making films as such, but it is a means of expressing myself in relationship to women. Whether it is a panel discussion, or field reporting, or a more elaborate treatment such as a documentary film, I do it all. It is in this context that I evolved in this profession, and the reason that I became a filmmaker, especially in documentary filmmaking.
Would you say that your role as filmmaker is to focus on the experiences and conditions of women? Do you expect to work solely on topics that relate to women?
I think that women are in a better position to deal with the question of women, because they have lived these experiences. If I broach the problem of polygamy, even if I am not myself in a polygamous marriage, perhaps I have a sister, a mother, or aunt who lives this situation. Indirectly, I have already seen how this woman experiences this life; I am a privileged witness who treats this subject. That is why I think a woman is in a better position to deal with the question of women, because she takes on the role of educator in society.
If you were to go into a household and see a woman and a man, you will find that it is the woman who is the backbone of the household. Even if you speak about a man, the care that surrounds and supports him is provided by the woman, she is the foundation. She prepares the children's meals, she dresses them, she nurses them, as well as her husband. I think that the woman is in a better position to talk about women, because she lives it both directly and indirectly.
One of your films was screened as part of the TV/Video Competition during FESPACO and then we saw another film during the colloquium in commemoration of the International Day of the Woman, held yesterday, March 8 and today. Could you talk about your films and their themes?
As I stated earlier, since 1985 I have done films that touched on many subjects. I have made at least fifteen documentaries with a focus on women. I will cite a few of the films that were awarded prizes nationally as well as internationally. At the 1993 FESPACO, I received the first prize for the Television/Video Competition with the film called Access de la femme à la terre. At the 1995 FESPACO, I received the second prize for the Television/Video Competition for the film Sadjo, la sahelienne. Also at 1995 FESPACO, I received another prize, "Développement humain durable" presented by the UNDP [United Nations Development Program] for the film Femme de brousse, survivre à tout prix. The film focuses on women's fight against desertification. Of course, there are the two films that you just saw, La destinée and Elle pour refaire le monde. The latter film was presented at the Beijing conference in 1996. I was designated by the Burkina government to make the film to present the point of view of Burkinabé women at Beijing. I made other films such as Les cracheurs de farine, which focuses on milling operations.
The film Femmes de Yatanga is about women in the rural sectors. In the region where the film takes place there is an association called "L'Association Six 'S'" which means, savoir se servir de la saison seche en savane au Sahel (to know how to make use of the dry season in the savanna of the Sahel). Despite the rapidly approaching desert, women have developed initiatives to fight against desertification and to survive it. The film Femmes de Yatanga focuses on their activities. For example, we see them using a new method of rearing sheep. They learn to fatten the sheep in a more intensified manner than the traditional practices in Burkina, which use a more extensive feeding system. They also use an anti-erosion method to fight against land erosion. We also see how they employ a technique for germination when there is not sufficient rain. In the documentary, I was able to show the women using these techniques.
In 1993, I was also awarded a prize "Sud-Nord" at the Rencontres Médias Nord Sud in Geneva. In that same year, I also won the prize "Images de femmes" and the prize "Regard sur les télévisions africaines" both at Vues d'Afrique in Montreal, for the film Access de femme à la terre. In 1994, I received a First Mention for the film Sadjo, la sahelienne, also at Vues d'Afrique. In 1993, I won a prize from the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) for the series "Femme et développement." I have been awarded a total of eight prizes for the work that I have done.
During the question-and-answer session after the film screening there was a debate about the freedom of choice on the subject matter of your documentaries and to what extent your are free to treat the themes of your films. What role do the funding agencies have in the choice of the subject of the films that they finance?
In fact, when we make a film that has been commissioned, we must work within certain restrictions. We are obliged to respect the specifications of the agency. However, we often have the possibility of treating the subject as freely as we want. We have just developed a script and have submitted it to outside institutions, as well as those within Burkina, to produce it.
Our television station does not always have the financial means to produce our programs, so we have to become producers as well as directors and are forced to seek outside funding. Of course, in those cases, we do have limitations. For example, there may be an institution that is interested in a topic on AIDS, but its objectives for treating it are to focus on economic development while the area of social development is not the point of interest. We are, therefore, required to address the issue as it relates to the needs of the commercial market. For instance, the topics relating to AIDS are very much a public focus especially in the area of awareness-building and, thus, we are required to gear our program to these interests in order to obtain funding. Sometimes it is difficult to say loudly and forcefully what we want to say.
Who is your audience? The Burkinabés in general? Are you able to distribute your films to neighboring countries or outside of Africa?
We produce for the National Television of Burkina, and our audience is within a fifty-kilometer (thirty miles) broadcast range around Ouagadougou. However, now, eight provinces out of forty-five are served by the CRT (Centres regionaux de télévision). At the present we are attempting to install antennas in those provinces in order to receive Ouagadougou—which is the main station—on live broadcast.
What we have also done is organize small screenings where we can discuss and debate about the subject matter presented in the films that interest certain NGOs and women's associations. This also allows us to have a certain contact with the public, to really talk about particular topics. But these screenings do not always render large results: as you notice, in the theater there was not a large audience.
Is there a system in place where films can be screened in the village areas and people can discuss afterwards?
There is a possibility, if there is a demand. Yesterday, I was asked to present my two films to a group about thirty kilometers from here. It is an association of village women who wanted to organize an activity for March 8, on the International Day of the Woman. They wanted to have a film screening and debate. Even today, when leaving the auditorium, there were Burkinabé members of human rights groups who asked if I could show my film Elle pour refaire le monde in Doridori, which is almost two hundred kilometers from Ouagadougou. Though it is very far, for this kind of screening, even if it is only done periodically, we are able now and then to go to certain villages. However, it is still limited.
We also have been able to present films by using video projections as well as through video-clubs. Now, in the villages, people show videos and ask for an entrance fee of twenty-five or fifty CFA. When this structure exists in the village, we schedule a date and we go to those areas, screen our films, and discuss the films with the people to see if they identify with what we are presenting.
What has been the general response to your films?
I make films about women, their accomplishments, their perspectives, and their experiences. It is a way for me to present examples of women who can be used as role models, as well as give a new perspective on certain preconceived ideas that people have. Let's take the example of the film Sadjo, la sahelienne. In Northern Burkina, there are Peuhl women who are very beautiful, and who like to make themselves up. Here in the Burkina capital, there is the general impression that they do not like to work. But, in fact, they do work. Because they like beautiful things and they like to beautify themselves, they have an incredible talent as craftswomen. Northern Burkina has rich land for cattle breeding. When a sheep or ox is killed, the hide is removed and the women work with the skin. They make shoes and other items, it is really quite something to see. When a film such as this is shown to people who have preconceived notions of the Peuhl, their attitudes are changed.
In your film La destinée, you raised an important problem about the impact of foreign images that inundate the television and movie screens in Africa. Could you elaborate on this? As you showed, these films do not reflect the reality of the African youth, and yet, the influence on them is significant. Could you also expound on the phenomenon of these outside images on popular culture in Africa?
We are realizing that we do not have the power to control the influx of these outside images. We are bombarded with these images and perhaps what is necessary is a policy within African countries to find a way to examine these images and their influences. It is a very complicated situation. People buy satellite dishes and connect to whatever network they want. It is very difficult. We also sense that Africans do not like their own images. They actually prefer foreign images. This comes from the fact that we are not used to seeing our own images. And I think it is up to us as directors to fight in this regard and assist our public in developing an appreciation for our cinema.
It is a cinema that speaks of our reality, of our development, and we must reach this objective. It seems that even the people in the North do not like our films. They have another vision of us. They have always portrayed Africans as spectacular and sensational, or naked and hunger-stricken, with swollen-belly children. We do have value and worth and it is up to us Africans to value our culture, what we have. As a result, others will also appreciate our culture and our images. This is the only way that our cinema will evolve. If we are only content with images that are thrown at us, I think African cinema will never thrive.
Do you notice a certain alienation among the young generation from their own culture that comes from wanting to be like the people and images that they see on the screens? You have already stated that Africans do not identify with their own images; what does this mean for the future of African culture?
I think that, in fact, there is a certain alienation because the impact of the image is very powerful to the extent that it can change attitudes. When our young people see these images, they attempt to identify with certain actors and characters and, as you see, the cinema here is Kung Fu, and the Japanese cinema is still something else. Our youth like foreign images because they want to express themselves in different ways than they find in their own culture. As I portrayed in the film, when the French television series "Hélène et les garçons" comes on the television, all of the young people run to see it. If you notice, AIDS in our country is very developed. The young people who watch these shows do not realize that these are characters on the screens that are making love in a spontaneous way, but, in reality, people are taking precautions. This has to be stressed to them, and I tried to show this. These images create fantasies in our young people, who in turn want to imitate them. It is true that the lesson in the use of contraceptives appears a bit didactic. However, I tried to demonstrate that while these acts are shown on the screen, that in reality young people must know that there are places where they can go to find information about the real facts about these practices.
In the film we see a certain fantasy that the village girl has vis-à-vis the city. She sees all the images that are representative of a city sophistication. She finds the hairstyle, clothing, and manners of the city girl beautiful, chic, more interesting....
In the film, my purpose was not to present a village/city relationship. Of course, when going from the village to the city we see the contrast in housing and furnishing, but I was not really interested in focusing on this aspect. But yes, it does exist. The girls from the village admire the girls from the city because it is another "look" [stated in English]. For instance, in another film that was screened, we saw a village girl take the wig of a woman while musing "I look like a city girl." Their main objective is to become like them. They think that the girls in the city have a better situation and they want to have the same lifestyle. On the other hand, when a girl from the city comes to the village, she is often disappointed to see the way that the girls and women dress.
Would you say that village girls experience a certain alienation as they strive to identify with city culture?
Yes and no, it is a way of imitating. It is a change of mentality that comes from the images that we receive. There is a strong westernization in the villages, because the people of the city are viewed as the models. I wouldn't say that it is necessarily alienation, but rather a way of identifying with what is considered better.
You work in video and television; could you talk about the technology in terms of the advantages and disadvantages in comparison to working in film?
With film and video production, it is a question of the physical medium. It is not because one works in video that the theme is not treated in the same manner. A feature fiction film can be made in video and perhaps it will cost less. And I think that it is better for me to work in video, since we are already troubled by the lack of financial means. Thus, in this case we have less anguish. Video is much less expensive, it is practical, and we are able to show much more of our work to the public.
On the other hand, 16mm or 35mm is not accessible to everybody. One has to have many contacts to have the funding to make films in these formats. To gain the confidence of financiers is very difficult. You see filmmakers that since the beginning of their career have never been able to complete their films, whereas, during this same time, those of us who use video are doing a maximum amount of films.
I would assure you that if I had the means, I would do six video-documentaries in a year, whereas, if I worked in 35mm, I would take five to ten years without having done one film. I think we should turn towards the means that are more accessible.
What do you feel is your contribution to African cinema? You have already talked about your work in the area of women and development, and I have seen several of the films in this series. You were also one of the co-organizers of the colloquium in commemoration of the International Day of the Woman, where a few African women in cinema presented their work.
I think that I have been able to contribute to African cinema by doing a few films that have been seen and awarded prizes, that have toured around the world, and that have raised questions about problems that exist. I am sure that there is a great deal more to do because the contribution of one person, even if it is important, is not enough; since there are a great many problems that remain, and there is still a lot to do.
I have contributed a great deal to the emancipation of women because all the films that I have done have focused on women, especially in my country. I have been in this field for the last eleven years. Whether they are documentaries, television debates, or reports on particular situations, I think that I have contributed much to the emancipation of women. I would like to continue in this direction so that women may become more aware of their situation in order to better participate in the development of our country.
As a Burkinabé woman, what are your impressions of Princess Yennenga?
She is a hero.
As the symbol of the grand prize of FESPACO, does she represent a symbol for the future of African women in the cinema?
You have seen that in a conscious or unconscious way, the image of Princess Yennenga is the grand prize of FESPACO, which is very significant. It demonstrates the importance of women in society. And I think to have this prize is a crowning achievement. And we women must fight so that women will achieve this.
If we succeed in obtaining the Etalon de Yennenga, the efforts of women will be crowned and we will have reached a certain objective. Princess Yennenga was the proof of courage and bravery, the proof of endurance, and she was a woman who did a great deal in Burkina history. I think to fight for a woman to obtain the Yennenga is truly a step forward, and it will be for the greater welfare and improved standard of women in general.
