Apolline Traore is the first ever female winner of the prestigious and coveted African Movie Academy Award (AMMA) for ‘Best Director’. She won the diadem on October 29 for her study of terrorism in the Sahel. Though she is a native of Burkina Faso, her film, Sira, was shot in Mauritania for security reasons. Traore holds degrees in cinematography, from Emerson College, Boston, U.S.A., and the New York Film Academy. Sira, her fifth feature, explores female resilience. It follows Desrances (2019), Borders (2017), Moi Zaphira (2013), Sous la clarté de la lune (2004) and a number of short films. In this interview with J.K. OBATALA, Traore discusses a wide range of issues — from the virtues of Nigerian film, to her dislike of writing and producing.
Let’s open with your film, which won the award for ‘Best Director’. Tell me something about it
Sira is a feature film, which I shot…
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