Cheick Oumar Sissoko

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Cheick Oumar Sissoko (born 1945 in San, Mali) is a Malian film director.

[edit] Biography

As a student in Paris, Cheick Oumar Sissoko obtained a DEA in African History and Sociology and a diploma in History and Cinema from the Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales. He then continued his studies in cinema at the Ecole nationale Louis Lumière.

On his return to Mali, he took up directing at the Centre National de la Production C inématographique (CNPC), where he directed Sécheresse et Exode rural ("Drought and Rural Exodus").

In 1995, he directed Guimba (The Tyrant), which won special jury prizes at the International Film Festival of Locarno, and l'Etalon de Yennenga ("Stallion of Yennenga") at FESPACO (the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou).

In 1999, La Genèse (Genesis) was released, which won Sissoko another Etalon de Yennenga at FESPACO. In 2000, he directed Battù, which won him the RFI Prize for Cinema at Fespaco in 2001.

He has created a production company called Kora Film.

As the president of the SADI (African Solidarity for development and independence) party, Cheick Oumar Sissoko was nominated as the Minister of Culture in the government of Ahmed Mohamed Ag Hamani on the 16 October 2002. He remained Minister of Culture in the government of Issoufi Ousmane Maïga, which came into power on May 3, 2004.