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Be proud of the past and look forward. The Fespaco, the largest African film festival, created in February 1969, celebrates its 50th anniversary. The opening ceremony will take place this Saturday, February 23 at the Ouagadougou Municipal Stadium, which is becoming the film capital of Africa. The 26th Pan-African Film Festival has selected more than 160 films from filmmakers across the continent, as well as from the diaspora. The fiftieth anniversary, devoted to the theme "Memory and future of African cinemas", will also be the perfect opportunity to honor the greatest African filmmakers and to screen all the winning films for half a century.
The Fespaco? Yes, it's happening in Africa, but it's unique in the world. And it begins at the opening with the dazzling spectacle of the riders and the horse prancing in front of the official stand, in the image of the Stallion of Yennenga, the legendary trophy of Fespaco, inspired by the warrior princess of the founding myth of the Mossis empire. This "African Palme d'Or" has become one of the symbols of African cultural identity.
Rwanda, guest country of honor
The opening film, The Mercy of the Jungle , by the filmmaker Joel Karekezi, from Rwanda, a guest of honor in this fiftieth anniversary edition, which will also be featuring Rwanda's national ballet, will be screened at the Burkina Cine, a venue famous for its welcoming festivalgoers with Burkina rhythms by local musicians "heating" the big screen before each session. In the heat of the capital, one can sometimes witness real scenes of joy in the halls, with an audience cheering his filmmaker like a rock star, dancing, singing, until the next session puts an end to the euphoria .
This extraordinary film event, with its 450 screenings and 5,000 film and media professionals and 100,000 spectators expected during the eight days of the 2019 edition, represents the pride of a whole country. In 1969, it all started with a "small" African film week, launched by the passionate film-lovers of the Franco-Voltaic film-club who start from a simple observation: at the time, Africans can not see African films.
Fespaco 2019: What are you waiting for the 50th anniversary?
" Images of Africa, by Africa and for Africa "
From the first festival, in February 1969, with its 20 films (including 14 African) and its 10,000 festival-goers, the great Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène supports the idea of setting up a film event in this country, which was called the time still Upper Volta and did not have a cinema structure. In a precious recording at the closing of the 1st Festival, kept by the INA, we hear Sembène think whether this event should take place each edition in a different African State " or if it is not better than a fixed point appointed by everyone, designated to be the meeting place. This point, of course, is not determined, because this point has directors or has no directors, this point must be a meeting point. "
With its sacred motto, " Images of Africa, by Africa and for Africa ", Fespaco has since embarked on the decolonization of the image and awarded the highest distinction of African cinema to giants of the 7th art like Malian Souleymane Cisse , Algerian Brahim Tsaki, Burkinabe Idrissa Ouedraogo , Mauritanian Abderrahmane Sissako , Ethiopian Haile Guerima or Senegalese Alain Gomis, one of the few to have twice won the Yennenga Stallion with Tey (2013) and Félicité (2017).
Fespaco transcended African cinema
In 50 years, the festival has transformed the city of Ouagadougou and transcended African cinema, long scattered and poorly regarded. Today, in the heart of the capital stands the Monument of Filmmakers, paying tribute to African filmmakers. A giant sculpture erected in 1987 and composed of film reels and camera lenses. Not to mention the bronze statues, on a human scale, consecrated since 2009 to the winners of the Etalon de Yennenga on Mgr Thévenoud Avenue.
Beyond the city, Fespaco has profoundly changed the role of cinema and society. During the presentation of the 2019 edition to UNESCO, Alimata Salembere, founding member of Fespaco and first president of the festival, recalled that, in 1969, " we had two rooms in Ouaga, operated mostly by foreigners and who were planning Westerns and foreign films ". She also remembered a time when women were badly seen in cinemas, hence the initiative of President Aboubacar Sangoulé Lamizana to lead by example and take his wife to watch the film. opening. Or the historical rage of Thomas Sankara, president of the National Revolutionary Council, when he saw coils dragged on the ground, thus provoking a salutary awareness to preserve the archives of the cinema in the name of the cultural conquest at the service of the Revolution.
The " liberation of peoples " and the underfunding of cinema
In 50 years, the different themes of the editions marked the spirit of commitment and the will to change inherent in Fespaco: it was debated " awakening an awareness of black civilization ", the " African filmmaker of the future " , " liberation of peoples ", " cinema and cultural identity ", " cultural diversity ". But, despite charters and manifestos and the Ouagadougou Declaration , proclaimed in 2013, African cinema has failed to solve the eternal problem of underfunding and to break the vicious circle where the absence of cinemas prevents production and the absence of production prevents the creation of theaters.
Colin Dupré, film historian and author of the book Le Fespaco, a state affair (s) , puts the festival " a primer decolonization screens. Until the mid-1970s, African screens did not show any African films, because the distribution companies were French companies that used used copies that had already been filmed, and then moved them to Africa. The main task of the festival was then to decolonize the screens. The second task was to federate the filmmakers in a place south of the Sahara. There was already the Carthage Film Festival (JCC), but the Fespaco federated the filmmakers and it was part of a cultural movement in Africa. The second most important task of Fespaco was to participate in the cultural movement and boiling of the 1970s and 1980s. "
" Our cup of tea is the Fespaco "
Since then, Burkina Faso has managed - with highs and lows, moments of exaltation and political instrumentalisation - to maintain and cultivate the largest film event in Africa. Today, we are far from the 400,000 festival-goers posted in 1987 or the boycott of the official events of the 1989 Festival, when many filmmakers protested against the assassination of Thomas Sankara and the takeover of power by Blaise Compaoré. After the fall of the latter, during the revolution of October 2014, films on Thomas Sankara are entitled to quote in the rooms and since 2015 even exists a prize in the name of the captain.
The Fespaco is (re) become more free, confided to us during the 2017 edition the Burkina Faso director Tahirou Ouedraogo : " Before the departure of the president [Blaise Compaore, note] who had made 27 years of power, it was complicated. When you wrote your script, you had to pay attention to what you said. At the same time, the festival keeps its specificity: " The Cannes Film Festival is another dimension, but that does not mean that Cannes is better than the Fespaco. Fespaco is pan-African. Our cup of tea is the Fespaco. "
The current chief executive of Fespaco, Ardiouma Soma, especially wishes "to better implement the Fespaco and also to reposition the Fespaco for the next 50 years . With projections in the markets, schools and in front of youth centers in villages and rural communes, Fespaco expresses its will to remain popular. On the other hand, the selection of feature films in the running for the 2019 Gold Standard reveals an ambition to open up even more internationally, with twenty films from 16 African countries, including three Burkinabè.
"A lot of love "
In competition there is also a strong Maghreb presence (four films) and English-speaking Africa (six films). Portuguese-speaking Africa will be playing with Joao Luis Sol from Carvalho of Mozambique. The appearance of many names unknown at the international level proves a strong desire for renewal. And for the first time, there will be a Gold Standard awarded in the Documentary category. Not to mention the Panorama selection with a strong entry of young filmmakers.
" We realized that the African youth has really taken the digital tool to express itself and this really bodes well for a bright future," says Ardiouma Soma, the delegate general. We received more than 1,000 film s. Fespaco will be the showcase of African cinema. And even beyond that, with a selection of Films du monde : " You will find films made by non-Africans on Africa, people who seize Africans and who show Africa differently, with many of love. "
Let the party begin ... safe
While waiting for the opening, the question of security was urgently requested. During his visit to Paris, Abdoul Karim Sango , Burkina Faso's Minister of Culture, wanted to reassure the festival-goers, despite a worrying situation, with recurrent attacks that took place in several regions of the country: " The government of Burkina Faso Faso has taken all measures to ensure the safety of festival-goers, who will come to safety and leave safely. "
The Pan-African Film Festival is therefore more than ever in the role of a defender of freedom with, by its side, all lovers of Fespaco who have only one idea in mind: that the party begins!
► Fespaco 2019: The list of African films in the running for the Yennenga Stallion
► Fespaco 2019: What are you waiting for the 50th anniversary?
► The official program of Fespaco 2019 => http://tinyurl.com/y536xjjd