FESPACO Film Festival

Abstract

FESPACO Film Festival Colin Dupré (bio) The Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (Festival Panafricain de Cinema et de Television de Ouagadougou–FESPACO) was set up in Burkina Faso (Upper Volta at the time) in 1969. Born out of a modest private initiative, it received official backing from the Burkinabe authorities in 1972. That year, awards were introduced, the first editions not having had any competition sections. By the sixth edition (1979), the FESPACO adopted a biennial rhythm, the festival starting on the final Saturday in February every odd year. This choice was partly motivated by Tahar Cheriaa, founder of the Carthage Film Festival (JCC), who wanted to avoid competition between the two events. Set up in Tunisia in 1966, the JCC was originally intended to be a festival for films from sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, and the Arab world. In practice, however, even though Ousmane Sembène won its first prize in 1966 with La Noire de… / Black Girl (Senegal), the JCC soon became a festival focused on the Maghreb, Mashriq, and Arab world in general. Placed under the authority of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Communications, the FESPACO continues today to reflect the determination of the Burkinabe government. Michel Ouedraogo has been its Delegate General since taking over from Baba Hama in 2008. As it became institutionalized, the event adopted clear objectives, aiming principally to encourage the distribution of all African films, to facilitate contacts and exchanges between film and audiovisual professionals, and to contribute to the emergence, development, and safeguarding of African film as a means of expression, education, and consciousness raising (Statuts du FESPACO, 1999). The best of African film production is thus screened at the festival. At the end of the feature film competition, three major awards are attributed: the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Étalons de Yennenga (Yennenga Stallions). Short films are awarded the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Poulains (Foals). The horse plays a highly important role in the epic founding myth of the Mossi people, Burkina's majority ethnic group. Princess Yennenga met her future husband, Riale, thanks to his mount. Their child was the first in the line of the founders of the Mossi Empire. They named him Ouedraogo, [End Page 282] which means 'the stallion,' in reference to the horse that brought about their meeting. A Festival of its Kind The FESPACO brings together a considerable number of film enthusiasts. Today it easily attracts over half a million spectators. It is characterized by its popular dimension, lacking in a lot of other international film festivals. The Ouagadougou festival is one of the rare festivals to offer the general public the possibility of seeing the films selected during the competition, and on no other condition than buying one's ticket. Right since the outset, one of the FESPACO's major stakes has been to show African films to African audiences, and that at a time when the continent's screens were flooded with American, French, and Indian films. Largely inspired by Pan-Africanism, this militancy has remained unfailing since 1969 and has translated into Africans' desire to reappropriate their culture and develop their cinema. A real showcase for African film, the FESPACO helps 'keep a finger on the pulse' of filmmaking on the continent and makes it accessible to the world. FESPACO: Birth and Evolutions Born thanks to the initiative of a few enthusiasts, the FESPACO was created by the Franco-Voltaïque Cultural Centre (CCFV) film club in 1969 under the name of the Ouagadougou First African Film Festival. It emerged in a favorable context, several cultural initiatives having been launched across the continent, and notably in the domain of film. From the rudimentary nature of its first editions, it has evolved into a major event on the international cultural agenda. It was renamed FESPACO in 1972. That year, the Burkinabe government decided to institutionalize it, in an effort to thereby benefit from this showcase. Indeed, whatever the period, the FESPACO has always represented a key asset in Burkinabe diplomacy. Each regime has benefited from the platform that the event represents to convey certain positions to the international community. That was the case in 1983, for example, when...