Sawt Falasteen - Aicha Macky, Niger's taboo-breaking filmmaker

Even just being a woman in the film industry pushes boundaries -- too many have given up largely because of "the heavy gaze of society", the 43-year-old told AFP in an interview.

Macky's determination has paid off. Trophies and distinctions adorning her new offices in a Niamey suburb attest to her success, which last year also brought an invitation to join the ranks of the Oscars Academy.

The director is part of a new generation of filmmakers reviving Nigerien cinema after its bumper output years in the 1970s and 1980s.

Her career, however, has not been without pitfalls.

"We live in quite a conservative society and it takes a lot of self-denial for a woman who decides to make films," said Macky, adjusting her head scarf.

"When we talk about women filmmakers, you get the impression that we are talking about someone who behaves immorally. With a mentality like that, it's not easy," she added.

But Macky has never given in to "social pressure".

After studying sociology at university in Niamey, she gained her Master's degree in cinema in Saint-Louis in northwest Senegal and knew her future course was set.

- Unspoken -

As a child growing up in the central city of Zinder she had stood out when performing on stage or in school cultural competitions.

At the age of 22 when she moved to the capital to study, she was mocked by fellow students for her "tiny frame", she recalled.

"In Niamey a woman must have curves" to be courted, Macky said.

But the experience inspired a short film entitled "Moi et ma maigreur" ("Me and My Thinness") in 2011, followed two years later by "Savoir faire le lit" ("Know How To Make The Bed") about the avoidance by mothers and daughters to broach the subject of sex.

Next came her first long film, "L'arbre sans fruits" ("The Fruitless Tree"), an autobiographical work about her own infertility problems and her mother, who died during childbirth when Macky was five years old.

Macky played the role of herself in the film that depicts a country in which a childless woman is often sidelined.

"I was seen as an unusual woman, who was unable to give birth, in a Niger where women have on average 7.5 children," the director said.

The film went on to scoop numerous awards, as did her next work "Zinder", released in 2021.

In a change of tack, the documentary tackled violence by urban gangs, unemployment and illegal migration.

It was used in a national awareness campaign funded by the United States and focused on the aspirations of young people and the need to rebuild peace in Niger, which for years has faced attacks by jihadists.

"Zinder" won the audience award at the Cologne film festival and also garnered the women filmmaker prize at the prestigious Fespaco African cinema festival in Ouagadougou.

- Communication -

For inspiration, Macky said she doesn't have to look very far.

"My life, those around me, everything is the subject of films," she said, adding she aimed to address the "unspoken" aspects of life to "break the taboos and raise awareness".

"I attended the Cannes Film Festival. I reached the top by becoming a permanent member of the small circle of the Oscars Academy, which isn't nothing!" she said, smiling and adding that she felt "fulfilled".

But her ambitions don't stop there.

She plans to help train girls in filmmaking for the cinema and online, using a mobile studio so she can criss-cross the west African country.

The reopening of cinema screens which have completely disappeared in Niger is another challenge she has set herself.

"Today the war against terrorism in the Sahel can be won through the means of cinema, it's also a communication war," she said.

C.Hamad--SF-PST