The largest film festival in Africa began on Saturday, as the country battles a jihadist insurgency. Approximately 15,000 individuals are expected, including Nigerian film stars.
“It’s a form of resilience and resistance for the Burkinabe, for the filmmakers,” Alex Moussa Sawadogo revealed.
“More importantly, we can meet at a critical time of Burkina history as this year’s theme Culture of Peace is very important because today the issue of peace is not only political or military, but it concerns everybody, the artists, the filmmakers, the producers. …”
To compete in the film festival, 100 films from 35 African countries and the diaspora were selected.
Among them is “Sira,” which is considered the competition’s front-runner this year. The film, directed by Apolline Traore of Burkina Faso, chronicles the story of a woman’s struggle for survival after being kidnapped by jihadis in the Sahel.
“Right after we had one of the biggest massacres in our country a couple of years ago in Yirgou, it was so shocking to me actually, because I know that we never had such a thing in Burkina Faso,” she says.
“And as an artist as a filmmaker, we need to use our art to share what we are feeling, and this is exactly what I did.”
Government officials say they have ramped up security for this year’s edition. Since its launch in 1969, biennial film festival FESPACO has never been cancelled
“Holding the festival matters to us because it is very, very important for social cohesion. It’s important to meet and talk about movies around a poulet byciclette dish, a good bissap or gnamakou. During two weeks, everybody is on cloud nine, everybody’s going to see movies, people meet again, the Burkinabe don’t feel abandoned.”
Movies shortlisted compete across 11 categories, including short film, documentaries, TV series and animation.
Nearly half of those in the fiction competition this year are directed by women.
The Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou will run through March 4th.