Oumarou Ganda

Oumarou Ganda (* 1935 in Niamey, Niger, † 1 January 1981 ) was a Nigerien film director, screenwriter and actor.

Life

Oumarou Ganda belonged to the ethnic group of the Zarma. After attending primary school in Niamey, he joined the French expedition as skirmishers armed forces to. As the member he took two years, part of the Indochina War. When he could not find work after his return home, he emigrated to the Ivory Coast and worked as a longshoreman in Abidjan. There he learned the French film director Jean Rouch know, in 1958 gave him the lead role in I, a Negro.

Back in Niamey visited Oumarou Ganda film courses at the Centre culturel franco- nigérien, where he worked as an assistant engineer. As part of a screenplay competition of the cultural center Ganda wrote the screenplay for his autobiographical directing debut Cabascabo (1968 ), in which he himself played the lead role. The Medium film was included in the program of major European festivals such as the Cannes Film Festival in 1969. With his other films - including Le wazzou polygamous (1971 ), for which he received the grand prize at FESPACO 1972 - consolidated Oumarou Ganda his position as a prominent figure of the Nigerien film and African cinema.

Oumarou Ganda died from heart disease. After his death, a cultural center in Niamey, the Centre culturel Oumarou Ganda, as well as a film prize for the best first film at FESPACO, the Prix Oumarou Ganda, were named after him.

Filmography

As a film director, screenwriter and actor:

As an actor: