Prince Bubacarr Aminata Sankanu is a Gambian film director and producer. A former journalist, he moved to Germany 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. 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. Sankanu is part of the Sankanu Kaggoro clan, part of the ancient Ghana Empire, 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. He was a freelance journalist who wrote primarily for Upfront, the APRC's party newspaper, as well as the BBC, Voice of America, Deutsche Welle, 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 (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 Schengen area, and left for Germany 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 in Cologne, Germany. 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 (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