Idrissa Ouédraogo’s “Tilaï” Selected for 2026 Cannes Classics.

Burkinabé filmmaker Idrissa Ouédraogo‘s Tilaï (The Law) has been selected for the 2026 Cannes Classics. The 4k restoration of the project will screen alongside 21 feature films, 3 short films, and 6 documentaries, and two contemporary works. The Cannes Classics is a section dedicated to showcasing the preservation work carried out by production companies, rights holders, film archives, cinematheques, and national archives around the world.

Idrissa Ouédraogo

Tilaï is a 1990 drama film written, produced, and directed by Ouédraogo. The project is recognized as one of the most celebrated films in African cinema. The film had its world premiere at the 1990 Toronto Festival of Festivals and was released in France on Dec 5, 1990. The project is a co-production between Burkina Faso, Switzerland, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. It follows Saga’s return after a 2-year absence to find his father has married Nogma, Saga’s fiancée and promised bride. By village law, Nogma is now Saga’s stepmother and legally his mother. The young lover’s relationship was considered, per the village law, incest. Ouédraogo won the 1990  Grand Prix at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival and the 1991 FESPACO’s Étalon d’or de Yennenga. 

Still from Idrissa Ouédraogo’s “Tilaï”

The 1990 film, restored from its original negative, was digitally and photochemically treated by the Cité de Mémoire laboratory, which specializes in film restoration. This work was carried out under the supervision of Denis Garcia and Silvia Voser, who was also a co-producer of the original film. The restoration was commissioned on behalf of the Institut français – Cinémathèque Afrique, a program dedicated to safeguarding and promoting African film heritage held in French and African archives. Tilaï was restored to preserve and make accessible a key work of African cinema that was at risk of deterioration. This restoration aligns with the broader mission of Cinémathèque Afrique to prevent the loss of African cinematic memory by funding and overseeing conservation projects with technical partners like Cité de Mémoire. 

The screening will take place in the presence of Nora Ouedraogo, daughter of  Ouedraogo, and producer Silvia Voser.