Ouagadougou (AFP)
Africa's largest film festival, Fespaco, begins Saturday in Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso, a country plagued by jihadist violence since 2015 and the Covid-19 pandemic which has resulted in its postponement for eight months.
Both in terms of security and health, "we are aware of the situation and all arrangements have been made" for the smooth running of the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (Fespaco), which is to receive a thousand festival-goers. told AFP its general delegate, Alex Moussa Sawadogo.
Regarding the Covid, which affects Burkina Faso in a more limited way than other African countries, barrier gestures, in particular "the wearing of a mask in the screening rooms", will be required, he said.
The opening ceremony is scheduled for late Saturday afternoon at the Sports Palace in the Ouaga 2000 district, in the presence of Burkinabè President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré.
The music stars of Senegal - guest country of honor for the 2021 edition - Baaba Maal and Didier Awadi will perform there, as well as the dancers of Burkinabè choreographer Serge Aimé Coulibaly.
Until the announcement of the winners on October 23, the film screenings will then take place in the various theaters of Ouagadougou, including that of the Neerwaya cinema with 1,066 seats.
But projections will also take place in "ten open-air spaces", including a converted Place de la Nation, one of the largest in the city, said Mr. Sadawogo.
The general delegate announced that after the official festival, a traveling "mini Fespaco" will take place in the north of Burkina Faso most affected by the jihadist attacks which, in six years, have left around 2,000 dead and 1.4 million people. displaced.
The poster for the 27th edition of Fespaco which opens on October 16, October 14, 2021 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT AFP
The festival also opens the day after the commemoration of the 34th anniversary of the assassination of former President Thomas Sankara, Burkinabè "father of the revolution", who became a Pan-African icon, on October 15, 1987. He was 37 years old and only ruled his country for four years.
The trial of his alleged killers in a coup that brought to power Blaise Compaoré, now in exile in Côte d'Ivoire since his fall in 2014, opened on Monday in his absence and was suspended. until October 25.
- 17 films in competition -
A documentary entitled "Thomas Sankara, the human", by Burkinabè journalist Richard Tiéné, has been selected.
Seventeen films will compete for the grand prize of the festival which was initially scheduled for February 27 to March 6 and postponed due to the Covid pandemic, a second wave of which then hit the country.
Out of 1,132 films registered, 17 were selected in the fictional feature film category, to compete for the supreme award, the Yénnenga Gold Standard.
The directors of these films in the running come from 15 countries on the continent, including two Egyptians and a Burkinabè.
A passer-by watches the program of the 27th edition of Fespaco, October 14, 2021 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT AFP
The others are from Senegal, Angola, Cameroon, Nigeria, Tanzania, Somalia, Côte d'Ivoire, Chad, Rwanda, Morocco, Namibia, Lesotho and Tunisia.
Finally, a Haitian film was also selected.
Twenty-nine short films - fiction and documentaries - including five from Burkina Faso and four from Senegal, as well as seventeen TV series were also selected for the official selection.
Fespaco is held every two years in Ouagadougou and each edition sees films of all formats compete for the Gold Standard.
Since 1969, the date of its creation, it has brought together tens of thousands of spectators and actors from the 7th art scene in the Burkinabè capital.
For this 27th edition, "Cinemas from Africa and the Diaspora: new perspectives, new challenges" will be in the spotlight.
The Gold Standard is awarded by an international jury chaired by Mauritanian director and producer Abderrahmane Sissako, winner of the César for best film for Timbuktu in 2015.
© 2021 AFP