FESPACO 2007, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, February 24th - March 3rd

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The Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO), held February 24th-March 3rd, features a number of films from Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Mauritania. Algeria's "Barakat", by Djamila Sahraoui, "La Vague Blanche", from Moroccan director Mohamed Ali El Majboud, and Tunisia's "Making off", by Nouri Bouzid are included in the full-length feature competition. For the first time, the programme includes a competition for short-length feature films, with one Algerian, three Moroccan and four Tunisian productions representing the Maghreb. The documentary competition features films by Algerian director Samia Chala, Moroccans Rhalib Jawad and Mourad Moncif, and Tunisian Fitouri Belhiba.

Aside from the official competitions, the Panorama sections for full-length and short-length films will present 22 films from the Maghreb, including Morocco’s "Le Jeu de l’Amour", Mauritania’s "Bamako", Algeria’s "Beur Blanc Rouge" and Tunisia’s "Ors El Dhib". Moroccan cinema will be honoured in a special section, "Focus-Cinema Marocain."

FESPACO offers a host of Maghreb films

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FESPACO 2007

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mercredi 28 fevrier 2007 - - La 20e édition du Festival panafricain du cinéma et de la télévision de Ouagadougou (Fespaco) s’est ouverte samedi dans la capitale du Burkina Faso, qui devient aussi jusqu’au 3 mars celle du septième art africain. Le Fespaco, qui a lieu tous les deux ans, est le plus grand rendez-vous du genre sur le continent.

Au stade du 4-Août de Ouagadougou, plus de 40 000 personnes ont assisté à la cérémonie d’ouverture de cette manifestation, consacrée cette année au thème du «cinéma africain» et de la «diversité culturelle». Le coup d’envoi a été donné par le chef de l’Etat burkinabè Blaise Compaoré, accompagné par le secrétaire général de la Francophonie Abdou Diouf et le musicien camerounais Manu Dibango, président d’honneur du festival.

«Le cinéma, à travers toutes ses déclinaisons, est une manière de nous faire découvrir des horizons et des modes de vie différents», a déclaré la ministre burkinabè de la Culture Aline Koala. Le délégué général du Fespaco, Baba Hama, a loué pour sa part «la qualité» des films en compétition, estimant qu’ils «collent aux réalités et au vécu quotidien des populations africaines», souvent victimes de la pauvreté, des maladies ou des conflits.

L’affiche comporte 207 films toutes catégories confondues – contre 170 à l’édition 2005 –, dont plus de 80 œuvres de la sélection officielle, prétendant à la vingtaine de prix décernés par le festival, notamment le très convoité Etalon d’or, de Yennenga.

Trois films étaient projetés dans la soirée lors du gala d’ouverture : Faro, la reine des eaux, du réalisateur malien Salif Traoré, Faraw, de son compatriote Abdoulaye Ascofaré, et Bin el-Widyene (Par-delà les rivières), du Tunisien Khaled W. Barsaoui.

Parmi les films en compétition, figurent 20 longs métrages, 16 courts métrages et 15 documentaires. Tsotsi, de Gavin Hood, Oscar 2006 de la meilleure production en langue étrangère, est un des deux longs métrages en compétition pour l’Afrique du Sud, d’où est originaire le film lauréat du grand prix de la dernière édition, Drum, de Zola Maseko.

Loin de la crise qui la secoue, la Guinée est en lice avec trois longs métrages, dont Il va pleuvoir sur Conakry, de Cheick Fantamadi Camara. Le Burkina Faso, pays hôte, aligne aussi trois longs métrages : Code Phénix, de Boubacar Diallo, Djanta, de Tahirou Tasséré Ouédraogo et le Monde est un ballet, d’Issa Traoré.

Le Tchad est en compétition avec deux longs métrages dont Daratt, de Mahamat Saleh Haouroun, prix spécial du jury du dernier festival de Venise. Le Bénin, le Mali, le Cameroun, la République démocratique du Congo (RDC), le Nigeria, le Sénégal, l’Algérie, la Tunisie, le Gabon et le Maroc présentent chacun un long métrage, tandis que la Mauritanie, lauréate du grand prix de l’édition 2003 avec Hèrèmakono, d’Abderrahmane Sissako, fait figure de grande absente.

Le 20e Fespaco, qui réunit plus de 3 000 professionnels, consacrera aussi une rétrospective au cinéma malien, et mettra un accent particulier sur le septième art marocain et des documentaires sud-africains. Pendant la cérémonie d’ouverture, marquée par un concert de «stars» de la musique burkinabè mais aussi un ballet de danseurs polynésiens, un hommage a été rendu à des cinéastes disparus, dont l’Ivoirien Henri Duparc, réalisateur du Bal Poussière, le Nigérien Oumarou Ganda (Wazou polygame) ou le Sénégalais Djibril Diop Mambéty (Hyènes).

20e édition du Fespaco : Plus de 80 films en compétition

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Ougadougou, 27 Feb 2007 - - Judges are watching 20 films to decide which one should win the festival's top feature film prize.

The film Barakat by Algeria's Djamila Sahraoui is the only one produced by a woman.

In the previous FESPACO festival, Burkinabe Fanta Regina Nacro was one of few women whose film competed for the top prize.

Nacro says, even if a woman does walk away with the prize at a festival competition, it does not make her job any easier as a filmmaker.

"An African female filmmaker works in a society where women occupy a certain traditional position," she explains. "So when a woman makes a film, people will gossip, and spread lies about her film. I still have not overcome these difficulties, but film is my passion and when I decided to become a filmmaker, I knew I would face these challenges."

Nacro is a judge in this year's short film category, which has three films made by women, out of 16 entries.

Another prize category is television series and comedies. The only female-produced series is called Ina by Burkinabe Valerie Kabore. Her series of 15 television shows tells the story of a young struggling female lawyer whose father wishes she could be a more traditional woman.

Kabore says she wanted to show how life is a permanent conflict for her main character, much like it has been in her own life as a filmmaker.

Both Burkinabe filmmakers Nacro and Kabore say finding funding for film projects is a huge challenge, regardless of gender.

But Beti Ellerson, an American professor who has studied female African filmakers, says African women often have more responsibilities at home than men do, which makes it harder for them to focus on film financing.

"They have multiple identities as filmmakers," she explains. "Together with their film making duties is the role of mother, wife, daughter, woman and African - as well as working in other jobs - [because] filmmaking in Africa is not financially viable."

But Ellerson says the field is opening up more to women. She gives as an example last year's election of South African filmmaker Seipati Bulane Hopa as secretary general of the Pan African Association of Filmmakers.

"Once she was nominated and they asked for a second nomination, no one came forth. It was then stated that the nominations were closed. And, everyone clapped. It was a phenomenal event," Ellerson says. "There was this real sense that this needed to happen and it was far time it should be a woman."

Malian actress Diakite Pinda Female movie makers say associations of African women in film, cheaper digital technology to make films and the increased use of television for film distribution have also created more opportunities for women.

FESPACO continues until Saturday, when one film will receive the festival's top prize, called the Golden Stallion of Yennenga.

The prize is named after a fabled warrior daughter of a 12th Century West African king who helped her father in battle.

Since the prize was awarded in 1972, none of the 17 winners have been women.

FESPACO brings attention to female filmmakers' challenges in Africa

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samedi 03 mars 2007 - - Les thèmes de l’immigration et de l’influence de la tradition en Afrique sont omniprésents dans la plupart des films prétendant au grand prix du Festival panafricain du cinéma et de la télévision de Ouagadougou (Fespaco), dont la 20e édition s’achève samedi.

Dans des approches différentes, au moins un film sur deux, parmi les 20 longs métrages en compétition pour l’étalon d’or de Yennenga, évoque ces deux sujets. «Ce sont des sujets incontournables dans une Afrique pauvre, gardienne de ses coutumes et obligée de subir la mondialisation», estime Mansour, un festivalier venu du Nigeria.

Teranga Blues du Sénégalais Moussa Sène Absa, Africa Paradis du Béninois Sylvestre Amousso ou Un matin bonne heure du Guinéen Gahité Fofana abordent l‘immigration clandestine, qui préoccupe dirigeants d’Afrique et d’Europe. «C’est le sort d’une Afrique dont la jeunesse se meurt dans les océans, à qui on ne fait rien pour qu’elle reste chez elle», explique Moussa Sène Absa, justifiant les raisons quant à son choix de ce thème.

Teranga Blues raconte l’histoire d’un émigré clandestin qui, après son expulsion de France, se lance dans un juteux trafic d’armes, avant de mourir dans les bras de sa mère à l’issue d’un règlement de comptes. Dans Africa Paradis, l’immigration est montrée dans le sens inverse des réalités actuelles, d’une Europe pauvre vers une Afrique prospère.

Un scénario traité avec dérision pour, selon Sylvestre Amoussou, braquer «les projecteurs sur le racisme, la xénophobie, l’intolérance». Le fléau est décrit de manière plus tragique dans Un matin bonne heure, chronique inspirée de faits réels avec la tentative d’émigration clandestine de deux adolescents guinéens, Yaguine et Fodé, en 1999.

Voulant fuir la misère de leur pays, les deux garçons s’étaient cachés dans le train d’atterrissage d’un avion où ils ont été retrouvés morts à Bruxelles. «Ce film montre le visage du dénuement absolu chez nous», assure un cinéphile guinéen.

L’influence des coutumes, autre thème majeur au 20e Fespaco, est décrite avec de nombreux détails dans deux des trois longs métrages en lice pour le Burkina Faso, l’un des nombreux pays ouest-africains où mariage forcé, excision et lévirat ont encore la vie dure.

Madi Kaboré, spectateur burkinais, semble abasourdi par la trame développée dans Djanta, de Tahirou Tasséré Ouédraogo. «Comment, de nos jours, un père peut-il donner sa fille âgée de 22 ans qui entame des études universitaires à un octogénaire resté au village?», s’interroge-t-il.

Il va pleuvoir sur Conakry, du Guinéen Cheick Fantamady Camara, met aussi à nu une Afrique déboussolée par la confrontation de deux mondes : celui de BB, journaliste et talentueux caricaturiste, contre celui de son très conservateur père, imam de la mosquée de Conakry, capitale de la Guinée.

Faro, la reine des eaux du Malien Salif Traoré pose un regard critique sur les croyances africaines, à travers la place de l’enfant adultérin dans la société. Le choix dans ces films d’un mélange de musique rap et de chants folkloriques symbolise également l’Afrique en quête de repères.

Immigration et tradition parmi les sujets dominants

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Africa is suddenly big in Tinseltown. Forest Whittaker has just won an Oscar for his portrayal of the Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin, in “The Last King of Scotland”. “Blood Diamond”, a film about the precious stones that fuelled a civil war in Sierra Leone, picked up several nominations. Meanwhile Africa's own film festival, Fespaco, got under way this week in Burkina Faso, in west Africa. Though Ouagadougou, the capital, is richer in dust than glitz, it put on a flamboyant opening ceremony that featured displays of horsemanship and mime. Hundreds of films made by Africans and people of African descent competed for the Yennenga Stallion, a golden statue of a prancing horse and the nearest thing Africa has to an Oscar.

African cinema needs a showcase. Few films are widely distributed, and Fespaco is a chance to win bigger audiences not only among the film buffs of Ouagadougou but also through the distributors and television firms that attend. Fespaco also lets African directors promote a vision of Africa that contrasts with its portrayal by Hollywood. “Hollywood has not been fair to Africa,” says a Nigerian director, Mahmoud Ali Balogun. Most American films set in Africa, he says, accentuate the negative. “I want Hollywood to talk about the beautiful things in Africa, and to use our way of telling the story,” says Moussa Sene Absa, a Senegalese director.

Money can be hard to raise. Mr Sene Absa has been trying for ten years to make a film about his compatriot, Battling Siki, the first African-born world light-heavyweight boxing champion. No one is interested in this uplifting story, he says. But in Ouagadougou he did screen his film “Teranga Blues”, about a young illegal immigrant expelled from Europe and forced, back home in Senegal, to live up to the tall stories he told about having made it big in the West.

Relations with the West are a recurring theme. “Africa Paradis”, by Benin's Sylvestre Amoussou, is set in a future in which Africa has become a paradise and Westerners are desperate to immigrate. Abderamane Sissako's “Bamako” has Africa as a plaintiff in a court in which the World Bank and IMF are being tried.

One boost for African film is the advent of digital technology, which is far cheaper than filming in 35mm. A Moroccan project makes 30 films a year, spending no more than 12 days on each one. The results are impressive: one such film, “La Vague Blanche” by Ali El Majboud, was in the running for the Stallion.

The Ouagadougou Oscars

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A Nigerian film about a former child soldier of Sierra Leone's civil war has won the top prize at Africa's most prominent film festival.

The movie Ezra was the big winner Saturday night in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, at the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou.

The biennial event is more popularly known as the Fespaco film festival.

Ezra tells the story of a former child soldier who struggles with the aftermath of his actions following the end of the civil war.

The film's director, Newton Aduaka, was awarded Fespaco's most illustrious honour: the golden Étalon de Yennenga (Yennenga Stallion) for the film that best shows Africa's realities.

Placing second was Cameroon director Jean Pierre Bekolo's Les Saignantes, while Chad director Mahamat Saleh Haroun came in third with Darrat, which was also recognized for its cinematography.

Other winners included:

* Algerian director Djamila Sahraoui, awarded the Oumarou Ganda Prize (best first film) for Barakat. The film also won prizes for its screenplay and original score.

* Haitian director Arnold Atonin, who received the Paul Robeson Prize (best film by a director of the African diaspora) for Le President a-t-il le sida?

* Moroccan director Rhalib Jawad, whose film Ejido, La Loi du profit was named best documentary.

* Ethiopian director Daniel Taye Workou, whose Menged was named best short film.

Held every other year and considered the African equivalent of the Cannes Film Festival, Fespaco unites the continent's most prominent filmmakers in Ouagadougou for a week of movie screenings and debates about film.

Created in the late 1960s, Fespaco has grown in prominence over the years, as African cinema becomes better known around the world and its filmmakers try to battle the dominence of Hollywood blockbusters and Asian martial arts films at the continent's cinemas.

Child soldier's struggle takes top prize at Africa's Fespaco film fest