AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL NEW ZEALAND

Synopsis

Screenings/Awards: Best NARRATIVE FEATURE (World) and BEST FEMAL DIRECTOR, NARRATIVE FEATURE at NY Film Festival 2023, Second best price at FESPACO 2023, Berlinale 2023, Cannes 2023, Toronto International Film Festival 2023, NY Film Festival

This is an amazing film from Apolline Traore, who is, no doubt one of the best filmmakers from the Continent at the moment.  Some of her achievements: “The Price of Ignorance” won the Jury Prize at Fespaco 2001, “Frontières” won the audience award at AFFNZ2018, “Desrances” in 2019, “Sira” in 2023 is her fifth feature film. She was distinguished in 2019, Knight of the Order of Merit, Arts, Letters and Communication and in 2020, she was installed Ambassador of the National Museum of Burkina Faso.

Sira is a typical Apolline way, fighting for social justice through her camera lens.

Sira is the story of a young woman who decides to stand up to the terrorists who have attacked her family. It is a story of revenge by a strong woman who refuses to surrender and to be a docile victim. Sira decides to stand up against the Islamist terrorists until help arrives. A feminist counterpoint to
current reporting from the Sahel region, this is the fifth film from director Apolline Traoré, and as is the case with most of her work, it places a particular emphasis on the voice of women and the scourges that plague the African continent.  Burkina Faso has endured multiple terror attacks, but one that targeted the civilian population prompted Apolline Traore to work on her latest film Sira. “I had a hard time understanding it. What else can I do? I can’t take any weapons, neither am I a politician. I can only talk about it through art,” she said.