Prince Bubacarr Aminata Sankanu is a Gambian film director and producer. A former journalist, he moved to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in 1998 and began creating films in 2012. He has since founded the Cinekambiya International Film Festival (CIFF), his own production company, Sanxaafi, and created a number of films. He is also a scholar of African cinema affiliated to the

University of Stirling The University of Stirling (abbreviated as Stir or Shruiglea, in post-nominals; ) is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by a royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built within the walled Airth ...

Early life

Sankanu was born in the village of Sotuma Sere in Jimara, Upper River Region. He is a Serahulleh (also known as Soninke) and is

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

. Sankanu is part of the Sankanu Kaggoro clan, part of the ancient

Ghana Empire The Ghana Empire (), also known as simply Ghana, Ghanata, or Wagadu, was an ancient western-Sahelian empire based in the modern-day southeast of Mauritania and western Mali. It is uncertain among historians when Ghana's ruling dynasty began. T ...

, and is a prince of his clan. He attended Nusrat High School and was a student journalist.

Journalistic career and move to Germany

Sankanu initially worked as a journalist in

The Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

. He was a freelance journalist who wrote primarily for ''Upfront'', the APRC's party newspaper, as well as the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

, ''

Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave"), commonly shortened to DW (), is a German state-funded television network, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the Federal Government of Germany. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite tele ...

'', and ''The Point''. In some of his articles, he used the pen name Wagadou Ghana Remme. He went on to work for

Gambia Radio & Television Service The Gambia Radio & Television Service is the national broadcaster of the West African state of the Gambia. Gambia Radio & Television Service currently broadcasts in English and native local languages. History The history of GRTS stems from the ...

(GRTS) on national TV, and hosted the programme 'Business Forum'. Sankanu experienced "a strange illness" anytime he entered the GRTS building and saw others suffering health problems as a result of serving the Jammeh regime. He secretly applied for a visa to the

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, and left for

in 1998.

Film career

Sankanu decided to become a professional filmmaker in 2012. He founded the Cinekambiya International Film Festival (CIFF) in 2015. He has founded two companies, Sanxaanu Kaggoro Film Kaffo (Sanxaafi) and Tagadou Productions, and studied a diploma in digital film and animation at the

SAE Institute The SAE Institute (SAE) and SAE University College (in Australia), formerly the School of Audio Engineering and the SAE Technology College and badged SAE Creative Media Education, is a network of colleges around the world that provides creativ ...

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

. Sanxaafi has since become the first Gambian film company to become part of the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers. In September 2017, Sankanu finished a film called ''Bleeding Blade'' about

female genital mutilation Female genital mutilation (FGM) (also known as female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision) is the cutting or removal of some or all of the vulva for non-medical reasons. Prevalence of female ge ...

(FGM). The film follows a girl called Sira Camara whose fiancé attempts to force her to be circumcised after they agree to marry; the film sees the community eventually turn against the practice. Campaigner and politician Isatou Touray said that the film was "a very good start" in changing public opinion in the fight against FGM in The Gambia. Sankanu also created a number of other films in 2017. They include ''Pain of Sorrow'', on discrimination against girls with disabilities, ''Kuu Buka Labang'', a Mandinka-language film on changes in destiny, and ''Hisirinwalle'', a Sarahulleh-language family drama on ungratefulness. ''Pain of Sorrow'' was nominated for Best Film in the 2018 Hollywood African Prestigious Awards (HAPAwards). He is said to have inspired a "new wave of Gambian filmmaking." In 2018, two films that Sankanu co-produced were released. They include ''Faasike'', with Bubacarr Zaidi Jallow, and ''Chossano'', with Papis Kebbah Jobarteh and Frank Adim. Sankanu is also executive producer of ''Kelefa Saane'', a documentary on a precolonial Senegambian hero, directed by Fenja Braster.

Film scholarship

Sankanu has stated that his aim is to become a "full professor of cinema." As such, he has advanced this aim by studying MLitt Film Studies: Theory and Practice at the

, UK. Having graduated, Stirling have offered him the chance to study a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in African cinema at the institution, which he has deferred until his work schedule is not so busy.

Personal life and politics

Sankanu was married for 15 years, but it was dissolved in the Brikama Cadi Court after the marriage produced no children. He married again but this only lasted for five years. He is now on his third marriage. On 5 September 2016, Sankanu won a primary election in the

German Pirate Party The Pirate Party Germany (), commonly known as Pirates (), is a political party in Germany founded in September 2006 at c-base. It states general agreement with the Swedish Piratpartiet as a party of the information society; it is part of the in ...

to stand as a candidate in parliamentary elections in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

on 14 May 2017. He was to be a candidate in Wahkreis 17, covering the southeast district of

. Sankanu previously attempted to stand as a candidate in

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

elections, but he missed the deadline for candidate registration. Sankanu has also been the Pirate Party's commissioner for

sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sankanu, Prince Bubacarr Aminata Living people Upper River Division Gambian emigrants to Germany Alumni of the University of Stirling Gambian journalists Pirate Party Germany politicians Gambian film producers English-language film directors Gambian film directors Year of birth missing (living people)