Adama Drabo
Adama Drabo (1948 in Bamako, Mali- July 15, 2009) was a Malian filmmaker and playwright. Biography. Adama Drabo showed an interest in film since his childhood in the Malian capital of Bamako. For ten years, he was a schoolteacher in a Malian village, and in his spare time he painted and wrote plays. His career in film began as a hobby. In 1979, he joined the Centre national de production cinématographique (CNPC). There, he worked with director Cheick Oumar Sissoko as an assistant director on the 1986 film "Nyamanton" and the 1989 film "Finzan". In 1988, he produced  a short film, "Nieba, la journée d'une paysanne". In 1991, he produced his first full-length film, "Ta Dona" (Au feu!), which was nominated for the Gold Lion prize at the Locarno International Film Festival, and featured at FESPACO. It was also screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival. In 1997, he produced "Taafé Fanga", which tells the story of a Dogon woman who finds a magical mask and uses its powers to reverse gender roles in her village. This film was featured in film festivals worldwide, including at Cannes, Tokyo, Namur, and Ouagadougou . He died in Algeria from cardiac arrest during the "Festival culturel panafricain d’Alger". Bibliography. Adama Drabo has written many plays, including: