The conflict was notorious for gangs of drugged children, often not yet teenagers, who killed, raped and mutilated their way across the West African country, hacking off victims' limbs.
A common initiation ritual was to force children to slaughter their own parents, making it impossible for them ever to return home.
Fespaco turns dusty Ouagadougou into the Cannes of Africa for a week. African directors often complain that funding is hard to secure and that distribution is difficult on a continent where most cinemas show Hollywood blockbusters and martial arts films.
The festival's second prize went to Cameroonian Jean Pierre Bekolo for Les Saignantes (The Bleeding), while Chad's Mahamat Saleh Haroun scooped third place with Darrat ("Dry Season").
Il va pleuvoir sur Conakry ("It's going to rain on Conakry") by director Cheik Fantamady Camara, a love story set amid political machinations of the Guinean capital, won the public's prize.
The film shows devout Muslims praying for rain, their call to prayer cynically manipulated by politicians eager to use religion to keep their people in check.
RSS