The mission of the Centre d'art et essai de la Cinémathèque québécoise (CAECQ) is to primary program Quebec-made documentaries and independent fiction, as well as international documentaries, animated and foreign films, while encouraging opportunities for meetings between the public and the artists. Its programming is presented in conjunction with the Cinémathèque québécoise’s under the label New releases.
The February 3 screening will be followed by a discussion with the director.
Panorama Audience Award, Berlin International Film Festival 2023
A young Peul girl, Sira, and her tribe cross the desert to take refuge in her fiancé's village. In the middle of the journey, the men are violently massacred. The group's leader, Yéré, decides to take Sira prisoner for being humiliated by her. Raped and abandoned in the desert, Sira is left alone to discover the terrorist camp, led by Moustapha, her father's best friend, and Yéré, her rapist. Between bitterness, desolation and revenge, Sira decides to give everything to defeat the terrorists' macabre plans.
Apolline Traoré
Apolline Traoré is an award-winning filmmaker from Burkina Faso. After traveling the world with her diplomat father, she entered Boston's prestigious Emerson College School of Art. In 1998, she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Her graduation film "Le Prix de l'irance" won the Prix du Jury at FESPACO 2001. At the age of 25, she directed and produced the cult series "Monia and Rama" and a few years later "The Testament". Her first short film "Kounandi" was selected for the Sundance Film Festival and TIFF in 2004. She spent a few years working on independent films in Hollywood, before deciding to return home in 2008. Her work focuses particularly on women's voices and the social issues afflicting the African continent. After "Frontières" in 2017 and "Desrances" in 2019, "Sira" is her fifth feature film. She was awarded the Chevalier de l'ordre du mérite, des arts, des lettres et de la communication in 2019, and in 2020 Apolline became an ambassador for Burkina Faso's national museum.
