{ "id": "ept0b4v7aj", "slug": "tilai", "title": "Tilaï", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1990s", "label": "Drama films 1990s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1990s" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1990s.drama-films-early-1990s", "label": "Drama films early 1990s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1990s.drama-films-early-1990s" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.afr.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Sub-Saharan Africa · 1946 to 2000: Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.afr.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "path": [ { "id": "geo.afr", "label": "Sub-Saharan Africa", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.afr" }, { "id": "geo.afr.t1946", "label": "Sub-Saharan Africa · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.afr.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.afr.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.afr.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.afr.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.afr.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.afr.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.afr.t1946.culture.performance.screen" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Tilaï (The Law) is a 1990, 81-minute drama in Mooré by Burkinabé director Idrissa Ouedraogo, about Saga, whose affair with his father's new wife Nogma is judged incest. It shared the 1990 Cannes Grand Prix and won FESPACO's Grand Prize in 1991.", "snippet": "Tilaï (The Law) is a 1990, 81-minute drama in Mooré by Burkinabé director Idrissa Ouedraogo, about Saga, whose affair with his father's new wife Nogma is judged incest. It shared the 1990 Cannes Grand Prix and won FESPACO's Grand Prize in 1991.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1990s.drama-films-early-1990s", "markdown": "# Tilaï\n\n**Tilaï** (also released as *The Law*) is a 1990 drama film written, produced, and directed by the Burkinabé filmmaker Idrissa Ouedraogo, a [Burkina Faso](https://www.edgepedia.org/burkina-faso)–Switzerland–France co-production of 81 minutes in the Mooré language.[1](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/38063.html) • [2](https://africanfilmny.org/films/tilai/) Set in a village in pre-colonial Burkina Faso, it follows Saga, a young man who returns from a two-year absence to find that his fiancée Nogma has become the second wife of his own father, and whose affair with her sets the village's law against him.[1](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/38063.html) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tilai) The film shared the [Grand Prix](https://www.edgepedia.org/grand-prix-cannes-film-festival) at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival and won the Grand Prize at [FESPACO](https://www.edgepedia.org/fespaco) in 1991.[4](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/retrospective/1990/palmares/) • [2](https://africanfilmny.org/films/tilai/)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Title meaning | *Tilaï* means \"law\" in Moré, the language of the Mossi, the dominant ethnic group in Burkina Faso; the song that opens and closes the film proclaims \"Ya tilaï\" (\"That is the Law\").[5](https://www.institutfrancais.com/en/magazine/cinema/tilai-when-burkinabe-cinema-made-its-mark-international-stage) • [6](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2003/cteq/tilai/) |\n| Director | Idrissa Ouedraogo (born Banfora, 1954; died Ouagadougou, February 2018), his third feature film.[2](https://africanfilmny.org/films/tilai/) • [5](https://www.institutfrancais.com/en/magazine/cinema/tilai-when-burkinabe-cinema-made-its-mark-international-stage) |\n| Production | Burkina Faso, Switzerland, France; 1990; 81 minutes; production companies Les Films de l'Avenir (Ouagadougou), Waka Films, and Rhea Films.[1](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/38063.html) • [7](https://www.festival-cannes.com/f/tilai-2/) |\n| Cannes 1990 | Grand Prix (ex-aequo), shared with Kohei Oguri's *Shi no Toge*; the Palme d'Or that year went to David Lynch's *Wild at Heart*.[4](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/retrospective/1990/palmares/) |\n| FESPACO 1991 | Grand Prize (Étalon de Yennenga) at the Pan-African Film and Television Festival in Ouagadougou.[2](https://africanfilmny.org/films/tilai/) • [8](https://durbanfilmmart.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/DFM-Dossier-2010.pdf) |\n| Principal cast | Rasmane Ouedraogo (Saga), Ina Cissé (Nogma), Roukietou Barry (Kuilga), Assane Ouedraogo (Kougri).[1](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/38063.html) |\n| Key crew | Music by Abdullah Ibrahim; cinematography by Pierre-Laurent Chénieux and Jean Monsigny; editing by Luc Barnier.[1](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/38063.html) |\n| Restoration | A new 4K restoration from the original negative, by the Institut français' Cinémathèque Afrique, screened at Cannes Classics in 2025.[9](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2026/1990-the-burkinabe-maestro-idrissa-ouedraogo-prevails-with-tilai/) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story\n\nSaga returns to his family's village after two years away and finds that his father has married Nogma, the woman to whom Saga was betrothed. Under local custom the union is not improper, and Saga would be expected to accept it; he refuses, because his love for Nogma is stronger than anything else.[7](https://www.festival-cannes.com/f/tilai-2/) The two continue to meet in secret, and when their relationship is discovered, the village treats it as incest under the law. Saga is condemned to death, and the execution is assigned to his own brother Kougri, who spares him.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tilai) • [10](https://cinefiches.edouardneveu.fr/film/7662)\n\nThe Festival de Cannes synopsis frames the conflict through honor: in traditional Burkinabé societies, the question of honor stands above every other consideration, even family and blood, and \"Ya tilaï\" means \"it is the law.\"[11](https://www.festival-cannes.com/f/tilai/) The Cannes press material describes the film as a story of love, hatred, and honor in an African village, and as an affirmation of the greatness of assuming one's own destiny.[7](https://www.festival-cannes.com/f/tilai-2/)\n\n## Production\n\nOuedraogo wrote the screenplay during the editing of his previous film *Yaaba*. He had founded his own production company, Les Films de l'Avenir, and secured reliable partners in France and Switzerland, which spared him the usual long search for financing.[12](https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1990/12/05/l-afrique-impose-sa-loi-tilai-est-un-grand-film-et-la-confirmation-qu-on-peut-desormais-attendre-mieux-du-cinema-africain-qu-un-coup-d-eclat-de-temps-en-temps_4165491_1819218.html) The film was shot in Yatenga province in northern Burkina Faso, in the Sahel region the director called one of the poorest zones in the world, marked by drought and famine; he said he wanted to show its grandeur and beauty.[5](https://www.institutfrancais.com/en/magazine/cinema/tilai-when-burkinabe-cinema-made-its-mark-international-stage) • [12](https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1990/12/05/l-afrique-impose-sa-loi-tilai-est-un-grand-film-et-la-confirmation-qu-on-peut-desormais-attendre-mieux-du-cinema-africain-qu-un-coup-d-eclat-de-temps-en-temps_4165491_1819218.html)\n\nThe cast was made up of non-professional actors. The Cannes retrospective notes that the film draws its strength from the rural scenery and the heavy silences of characters portrayed by non-professionals, conveying a vision that avoids folklore and stereotype, and that it was made on a much smaller budget than its competitors in the Cannes Competition.[9](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2026/1990-the-burkinabe-maestro-idrissa-ouedraogo-prevails-with-tilai/) The score is by the South African pianist and composer Abdullah Ibrahim (Dollar Brand).[1](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/38063.html) • [13](https://cdn.festival-cannes.com/media/uploads/2026/05/203706.pdf)\n\n## Style and reception\n\nReviewers have repeatedly compared the film's structure to [Greek tragedy](https://www.edgepedia.org/greek-tragedy). The Institut français describes it as a timeless tragedy of the individual confronting the will of the group, in which the law of the village proves stronger the more Saga follows his heart, and finds an aesthetic close to [Pier Paolo Pasolini](https://www.edgepedia.org/pier-paolo-pasolini)'s *Oedipus Rex* (1967) in the arid settings and slow rhythm.[5](https://www.institutfrancais.com/en/magazine/cinema/tilai-when-burkinabe-cinema-made-its-mark-international-stage) Kevin Thomas of the *Los Angeles Times* wrote in 1991 that the film unfolds \"with the stateliness and inevitability of Greek tragedy,\" praised Ouedraogo's landscapes as expressive as Antonioni's, and noted that the villagers follow tradition not blindly but out of a sense of duty.[14](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-06-22-ca-784-story.html)\n\nIn *Le Monde* in December 1990, the critic called *Tilaï* a \"film-arrow\" that runs straight toward beauty, emotion, and meaning, and read its Cannes Grand Prix as a sign that African cinema could now be expected to deliver more than an occasional flash of brilliance.[12](https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1990/12/05/l-afrique-impose-sa-loi-tilai-est-un-grand-film-et-la-confirmation-qu-on-peut-desormais-attendre-mieux-du-cinema-africain-qu-un-coup-d-eclat-de-temps-en-temps_4165491_1819218.html) The African Film Festival describes it as one of the most celebrated films from Africa.[2](https://africanfilmny.org/films/tilai/)\n\n## Place in Ouedraogo's career and in Burkinabé cinema\n\n*Tilaï* was Ouedraogo's third feature, after *Yam Daabo* (1986) and *Yaaba* (1989), which had won the Critics' Prize at Cannes and the Audience Award at FESPACO.[5](https://www.institutfrancais.com/en/magazine/cinema/tilai-when-burkinabe-cinema-made-its-mark-international-stage) Across his films he explored rural life in [West Africa](https://www.edgepedia.org/west-africa) and universal stories of love, friendship, respect, and betrayal, and the Institut français judges that he explored them best in *Tilaï*.[5](https://www.institutfrancais.com/en/magazine/cinema/tilai-when-burkinabe-cinema-made-its-mark-international-stage) His Cannes consecration revealed Burkinabé film production to a worldwide audience and placed him among the fundamental authors of the African continent.[15](https://mediatheque.ville-hyeres.fr/idees-decouvertes/decouvertes-cinemusique/tilai-1990-hommage-a-idrissa-ouedraogo-1954-2018)\n\nThe film's influence lasted within Burkinabé cinema: the director Apolline Traoré, who was Ouedraogo's protégée and producer client until 2011, said she learned from his cinema to slow down in her writing.[16](https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2023/03/01/apolline-traore-la-combattante-du-cinema-burkinabe_6163779_3212.html) Thirty-five years after the Cannes award, the restored version returned to Cannes Classics, presented in the presence of the director's daughter Nora Ouedraogo.[9](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2026/1990-the-burkinabe-maestro-idrissa-ouedraogo-prevails-with-tilai/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Tilaï (Idrissa Ouedraogo, 1990), La Cinémathèque française](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/38063.html)\n2. [Tilaï / The Law, African Film Festival, Inc.](https://africanfilmny.org/films/tilai/)\n3. [Tilai, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tilai)\n4. [Retrospective 1990 Palmarès, Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/retrospective/1990/palmares/)\n5. [Tilaï: When Burkinabé Cinema Made Its Mark on the International Stage, Institut français](https://www.institutfrancais.com/en/magazine/cinema/tilai-when-burkinabe-cinema-made-its-mark-international-stage)\n6. [Tilaï, Senses of Cinema (James Leahy, October 2003)](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2003/cteq/tilai/)\n7. [TILAÏ, Cinéma de Demain, Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/f/tilai-2/)\n8. [Durban FilmMart dossier (2010), statement by Idrissa Ouedraogo](https://durbanfilmmart.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/DFM-Dossier-2010.pdf)\n9. [1990: the Burkinabe \"Maestro\" Idrissa Ouedraogo prevails with Tilaï, Festival de Cannes (13 May 2026)](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2026/1990-the-burkinabe-maestro-idrissa-ouedraogo-prevails-with-tilai/)\n10. [Fiche Film TILAI, Cinéfiches](https://cinefiches.edouardneveu.fr/film/7662)\n11. [TILAI, Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/f/tilai/)\n12. [\"L'Afrique impose sa loi\", Le Monde (5 December 1990)](https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1990/12/05/l-afrique-impose-sa-loi-tilai-est-un-grand-film-et-la-confirmation-qu-on-peut-desormais-attendre-mieux-du-cinema-africain-qu-un-coup-d-eclat-de-temps-en-temps_4165491_1819218.html)\n13. [Idrissa Ouédraogo, Festival de Cannes press dossier (PDF)](https://cdn.festival-cannes.com/media/uploads/2026/05/203706.pdf)\n14. [\"'Tilai's' Tribal Lovers Break Taboos in a Universal Story\", Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times (22 June 1991)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-06-22-ca-784-story.html)\n15. [Tilaï (1990): Hommage à Idrissa Ouedraogo (1954-2018), Médiathèque de Hyères](https://mediatheque.ville-hyeres.fr/idees-decouvertes/decouvertes-cinemusique/tilai-1990-hommage-a-idrissa-ouedraogo-1954-2018)\n16. [\"Apolline Traoré, la combattante du cinéma burkinabé\", Le Monde Afrique (1 March 2023)](https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2023/03/01/apolline-traore-la-combattante-du-cinema-burkinabe_6163779_3212.html)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 1990s › Drama films early 1990s*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/tilai", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/tilai.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Tilaï\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/tilai. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Tilaï](https://www.edgepedia.org/tilai)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/tilai](https://www.edgepedia.org/tilai). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Tilaï\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/tilai. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Tilaï is a 1990, 81-minute drama in Mooré by Burkinabé director Idrissa Ouedraogo, about Saga, whose affair with his father's new wife Nogma is judged incest." }