Pan-African Film Fest Defies Pandemic And Jihadists

Africa's biggest film festival kicks off on Saturday in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou, delayed eight months by the Covid-19 pandemic and overshadowed by a brutal six-year-old jihadist insurgency

Ouagadougou, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Oct, 2021 ) :Africa's biggest film festival kicks off on Saturday in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou, delayed eight months by the Covid-19 pandemic and overshadowed by a brutal six-year-old jihadist insurgency.

Seventeen feature-length works are in the main competition for the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO), the biggest date in the continent's cinema and tv industry.

Held every two years, the hugely popular festival was initially set for February 27-March 6 but was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The impoverished landlocked country is also battling jihadist gunmen who have killed around 2,000 people since 2015 and forced 1.4 million to flee their homes.

"We are aware of the (safety) situation and every measure has been taken," the festival's director Alex Moussa Sawadogo said.

To stage the event, he said in remarks last month, demonstrates that Africa "continues to create, to dream, to be able to confront the ills that sap our societies.

" Launched in 1969, FESPACO is closely followed by the US and European movie industries, which scout the event for new films, talent and ideas.

Under its rules, films chosen for competition have to be made by Africans and predominantly produced in Africa.

The 17 full-length films, selected from among 1,132 entries, are vying for the coveted Golden Stallion of Yennenga -- a trophy named after a mythical beast in Burkinabe mythology.

Their directors hail from 15 countries across Africa, although there is just one from the host nation.

Egypt has two contenders, and there is one each from Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Ivory Coast, Lesotho, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, Tanzania and Tunisia.

A 17th is from Haiti -- reflecting this year's theme "Cinemas of Africa and the Diaspora."The short film category includes 29 entries, both fiction and documentaries, with five from Burkina Faso and four from Senegal.