Burkina Faso Film Director Wants to Be Voice of African Women

Burkina Faso film director Apolline Woye Traore, who won three awards at the country's prestigious Fespaco festival Saturday, found herself in a male-dominated industry when she returned home from 17 years in the U.S. where she studied and worked in film in Los Angeles.

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Born in 1976, Traore left her homeland at the age of seven, "It was difficult," she said in an interview with Reuters in the garden of her home in the capital Ouagadougou. "I had to bang on the table. I had to be direct and raw. There were lots of fights before I imposed myself. I think if I had been a man, it wouldn't have been like that. Having women in the industry is very important. We have a different vision. We see things differently," she said. "It's not only in Africa."

Her 2013 entry at Fespaco, "Moi Zaphira," told the fictional story of a young woman who seeks to break out of the confines of her village and forge a better life for herself and her daughter.

Her latest film, "Frontieres," centers on four market women who travel across West Africa from Senegal to Nigeria, braving corrupt border guards and the ever-present threat of violence to earn a living.

"It was an experience for me to really see how Africa struggles and how these extraordinary women struggle for a better life and confront all off these dangers," Traore said.

"Frontieres" missed out on Fespaco's top honor this year, which went to Senegalese director Alain Gomis for "Felicite."

It did pick up three awards, including the Paul Robeson Prize for the best film by a director from the African diaspora.

Traore said she already has her next project in mind, though she declined to give details. "I think in our trade the only way to impose yourself is to produce. It's a very hard field," she said. "It's always a struggle because it's art and so you are always trying to convince people."