Top 5 influential African filmmakers you need to know

Fanta Régina Nacro

When Fanta Régina Nacro was growing up in Burkina Faso, her intention was to become a midwife. But fate led her to film when she grew an interest in telling stories.

At the Institut d’Education Cinématographique de Ouagadougou (INAFEC), where she studied in the 80s, she took her first stab at directing when her school collaborated with Howard University’s film department to create a collective experience. She credits the “African American” partnership as being the force that catapulted her career.

Since then, Nacro has directed over a dozen movies including African classics like “Vivre Positivement” and 1995’s “Puk Nini.”

“I believe in exchanging ideas – in cultural exchange,” as quoted in Africa Shoots Back: Alternative Perspectives in Sub-Saharan Francophone African Film. “We watch European films. We make allowances, retain what is positive in Western culture and reject the negative, so I don’t see why Western audiences shouldn’t see African images.”