Oumarou Ganda (1935 – 1 January 1981) was a Nigerien director and actor who helped bring African cinema to international attention in the 1960s and 1970s. Ganda was born in Niamey, the capital of Niger, in 1935 and was of Djerma ethnicity. He completed his primary studies in Niamey and at the age of 16 joined the French Far East Expeditionary Corps as a soldier from 1951 to 1955. After spending two years in Asia during the First Indochina War he returned to Niger, where he was unable to find wo ...