CANNES: Africa's "fragile" cinema has kept a toe-hold at the Cannes Film Festival, with a veteran Malian director and the first-ever Ethiopian as the continent's only entries in the official selection.
"I feel very grateful, lucky and proud to represent this part of the world," said Yared Zeleke, 36, whose movie "Lamb" became the first Ethiopian flick selected for the world's premier film festival.
The only other African director among the 50-odd films in the official selection was Souleymane Cisse, a 75-year-old Malian who won the third-place jury prize in 1987 for "Yeelan".
"We are part of the privileged few," said Cisse, who presented his film "Oka" ("The House"), a drama about four grown-up sisters who are expelled from their home by a corrupt judge.
Cisse said he wanted to discuss "the corruption of officials that leads to violence" in his country.
He hoped his presence was not linked to his being from Africa. "We have a sacred responsibility to make quality films, otherwise it's better not to represent Africa at all."
But African productions are rare, with few countries willing or able to invest in cultural subsidies and huge numbers of cinemas shutting their doors under pressure from home video and piracy.
"Over the past 20 or 30 years ago, almost all the cinema halls in Mali have been destroyed," said Cisse, adding there was only one theatre left in the whole country.
Nigeria has retained a thriving movie industry known as "Nollywood", but quality is not a high priority.
"They make feature films in two weeks, put them out, recoup their money and start again," said Cisse.
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