Truth in desert sands

The Oscar nomination of Timbuktu, a film about the occupation of the Malian desert town by al-Qaeda-linked Islamists in 2012, cannot mask the lack of an established cinema industry in West Africa, the film's director said yesterday.

Nominated as the best foreign-language film , Abderrahmane Sissako's movie has already won two awards at this year's Cannes Film Festival and seven at the Cesar Awards, France's equivalent of the Oscars.

It tells of the resistance of the residents of the ancient town, which has a rich history as a seat of Islamic learning, to the harsh Islamic law imposed by the militants, whose decrees ranged from bans on music and football to the stoning of those accused of adultery.

Sissako called for West African leaders to do to more to promote cinema in the region .

"Being nominated is great for the continent and Mauritania ... [but] you cannot say that cinema is established there because there is a festival," Sissako said.

"When you have countries that produce one film a year, or one film every three years, which is the reality in Africa, cinema is not well established."

Much of Sissako's work focuses on Africa. He was born in Mauritania but is based in France.

Timbuktu was shot in the eastern deserts of Mauritania, near the border with Mali, where the militants were scattered in early 2013 by a French military intervention.

Sissako said that cinema, and culture in general, were still secondary considerations for governments in the region.

"There is a lack of political vision," he said.

"Wherever there is no culture, it is not a good thing."

In Timbuktu an imam argues against the interpretation of Islam imposed by the terrorist gunmen.

Boys play a football match in the dust with an imaginary ball because the popular sport has been banned.

"We have to be clear - the Salafists [fundamentalists] are a step backwards for society," Sissako said. "This is not something that we can resolve in two years."