Burkina Faso: kickoff of Fespaco, the great festival of African cinema
Audio 02:38
First canceled and then postponed, the 27th edition of Fespaco started this Saturday, October 16, 2021 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso with Senegal as the country of honor.
AFP - ISSOUF SANOGO
By: Guillaume Thibault
2 min
Fespaco, a festival created in 1969, a real institution that was postponed at the start of the year, threatened by the security crisis that the entire sub-region is going through, is indeed taking place.
17 films are selected in the premier category, that of feature films.
And for this 27th edition, the desire is to highlight the new generations of creators.
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"
Fight or death, we will win,
" chanted Thomas Sankara.
An adage that sticks to African cinema whose road is still long to go to emerge.
Despite the proliferation of films and series, despite the various means of distribution, the new generations encounter the same difficulties as the old ones.
Even the Burkinabè President Roch Marc Christian Kabore wondered at the end of the opening ceremony: "
What are the difficulties, the constraints, the prospects for African cinema?
It will be necessary that all the actors of the profession look into the question, so that we can remove all the obstacles which prevent African cinema from prospering.
"
Support new generations
The management of Fespaco has clearly made the choice to put the cinema forward, to avoid once again politicizing a festival which is celebrating its 52 years of existence.
The theme of this edition: "
Cinema of Africa and the Diaspora: new perspectives, new challenges
".
The fact of choosing the Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako goes in this desire to transmit.
“
I am very moved that films have been made during this pandemic period.
There is also the rejuvenation of the cinematographic profession and the commitment of the States is still something very weak!
It's a shame for this youth.
"
Actor, musician, Burkinabè Smockey, Serge Bambara in civil status, founder of Balai Citoyen, was strongly involved for this Fespaco, in particular for the opening ceremony with choreographer Serge Aimé Coulibaly.
Pandemic, security crisis, the activist inspired by Thomas Sankara sends a very clear message to new generations of creators.
“
It's one more ordeal that must be overcome, one more, but it is not the most impregnable fortress,” he
explains.
This will effectively enable this youth to understand that it needs to build itself on obstacles.
Without obstacles, we can achieve nothing.
"
A sign that African cinema has continued to survive despite the difficulties, more than 1,100 films have been submitted to the selection committee.
17 are competing this week in the feature film category.
The prizes will be awarded on Saturday 23 October during the closing ceremony.
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