The Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (Festival panafricain du cinéma et de la télévision de Ouagadougou or FESPACO) is a film festival in Burkina Faso, held biennially in Ouagadougou, where the organization is based. It accepts for competition only films by African filmmakers and chiefly produced in Africa. FESPACO is scheduled in March every second year, two weeks after the last Saturday of February. Its opening night is held in the Stade du 4-Août, the national stadium. The festival offers African film professionals the chance to establish working relationships, exchange ideas, and to promote their work. FESPACO's stated aim is to "contribute to the expansion and development of African cinema as means of expression, education and awareness-raising". It has also worked to establish a market for African films and industry professionals. Since FESPACO's founding, the festival has attracted attendees from across the continent and beyond.Fiche Technique du FESPACO (2003). FESPACO: Fiche Technique. Retrieved 03/26/2006 from

Founding

Created in 1969, it was first called the Pan-African film and television festival of Ouagadougou. It has evolved into an internationally recognized and respected event. Alimata Salambere, the cultural minister of Burkina Faso from 1987 to 1991, was one of the founders of the festival. At its third edition in 1972, the festival was named FESPACO for short, keeping its full title as ''Festival pan-Africain du cinema et de la television de Ouagadougou.'' FESPACO was recognized formally as an institution by governmental decree on January 7, 1972. Its award ceremony and base of operations is Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, where the annual awards ceremony is also held. In 1972 the first winner of the best film award was '' Le Wazzou Polygame'' by

Oumarou Ganda Oumarou Ganda (1935 – 1 January 1981) was a Nigerien director and actor who helped bring African cinema to international attention in the 1960s and 1970s. Life Ganda was born in Niamey, the capital of Niger, in 1935 and was of Djerma ethn ...

of Niger. Since then, the best film award has been won by directors from Cameroon, Morocco, Mali, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Ghana and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Evolution from 1969 to 2022

At the festival's founding in 1969, five African nations: Upper Volta (Burkina Faso), Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Niger and Senegal, were represented, as well as France and the Netherlands. A total of 23 films were shown. At its second edition, the participant African countries rose to nine, including for the first time Algeria, Tunisia, Guinea, Mali, and Ghana, and a total of 40 films were shown. In 1983, the festival included MICA (''le Marche International du Cinema et de la television Africaine''), a market for African film stock and video footage. From 1985 onward, the festival adopted different themes for the annual event, starting with "the cinema, people, and liberation". The theme for the 2007 festival was "the actor in the creation and promotion of African films".Arte > FESPACO > Bala Hama. Festival de FESPACO. Interview Baba Hama. Retrieved 03/24/2006 from As the festival became more prominent, its budget and sponsors increased; the donor countries include Burkina Faso, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Republic of China. Donor organizations include AIF (ACCT),

PNUD The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

, UNESCO, UNICEF, European Union and Africalia. Due to its international recognition, FESPACO has enabled African filmmakers to show their talents and sell their products in the international market, as well as to promote development of African products and technicians in the industry.Arte > FESPACO > Introduction. Festival de FESPACO, Introduction sur le FESPACO. Retrieved 03/20/2006 from Arte > Fespaco > Palmares et bilan. (2003). Festival de FESPACO. Bilan du Festival – FESPACO 2003. Retrieved 03/25/2006 fro

/ref> The delegate generals of FESPACO since 1972 have been Louis Tombiano, from 1972 to 1982; Alimata Salembere, from 1982 to 1984;

Filippe Savadogo Filippe Savadogo is a Burkinabe film critic and politician. Between 2007 and 2011, he was the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Communication for Burkina Faso. He has also served as ambassador of his country to many European countries including Fran ...

, from 1984 to 1996, Baba Hama, from 1996 to 2008, Michel Ouedraogo, from 2008 to 2014, Ardiouma Soma, from 2014 to 2020, and Alex Moussa Sawadogo, from 2020 until present day.

Main initiatives

* African international film and television market: FESPACO is a festival that promotes African filmmakers and facilitates the screening of all African films. This unique festival in Africa enables contacts and exchange between film and audiovisual professionals of Africa and also contributes to the expansion and development of African cinema as a means of expression, education and awareness rising. * Promotion of African cinema and culture: African cinema is promoted through publication of catalogues, FESPACO news, FESPACO newsletter, and maintenance of an African film library, which has film archives and a data bank. In addition, it supports a traveling cinema. As the festival allows exclusively African films in competition, it supports raising the quality of African films and the filmmakers. * Non profit screenings in rural areas: FESPACO also promotes non-profit screenings in rural areas, in collaboration with non-governmental organizations or associations in schools and other public or private institutions."Evolution du Fespaco depuis sa naissace"
Interview de Alimata Salambere (04/03/2005). Retrieved 03/25/2006. * Promotion of African cinema in other international festivals: FESPACO organizes various film events, such as film week and film premieres. It also promotes African cinema in other international festivals. * MINIFESPACO: promotion of FESPACO festival in national events. FESPACO organized MINIFESPACO, held in Ouahigouya (Burkina Faso) from 5 to 8 Jun 2013, a
Institut Olvido
to extend audiences for African films."FESPACO 2013: les 12 meilleurs films seront projetés à Ouahigouya"
Retrieved 05/29/2013.

Awards

The most prestigious award of the festival is the ''"Étalon d'or de Yennenga"'' (''Golden Stallion of

Yennenga Yennenga was a legendary princess, considered the mother of the Mossi people of Burkina Faso. She was a famous warrior precious for her father, Naa Gbewaa or Nedega, the founder of the kingdom of Dagbon, now in present day Ghana. But the princess ...

'' or short ''Golden Stallion''), named after the legendary founder of the Mossi empire. The ''"Étalon d'or de Yennenga"'' is awarded to the African film that best shows "Africa's realities". Other special awards include the Oumarou Ganda Prize, given for the best first film, and the Paul Robeson Prize for the best film by a director of the

African diaspora The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from native Africans or people from Africa, predominantly in the Americas. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the West and Central Africans who were e ...

. (The latter is named for a major 20th-century American actor, singer and civil rights activist in the United States.)

References

External links