… As Kunle Afolayan Chairs ‘Perspectives’ Jury
By Adelagun EniObanke
The attention of the film world, especially those in love with African cinema, will shift to Ouagadougou, the Burkinabe capital, as the Pan African Film & Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) opens on Saturday February 25th, 2023.
This year’s is the 28th edition of the biennial event, which has come to be accepted as arguably Africa’s biggest film festival.
Running from February 25th till March 4, the festival will open with ‘Bravo, Burkina’, a film by Nigerian born-Ametican photographer, writer and designer, Wale Oyejide.
Nigeria’s presence will be adequately felt at the festival as Mami Water, the critically-acclaimed film by CJ ‘Fiery’ Obasi, is among the 15 features film competing for the festival’s highest honour.
Obasi’s film is basking in the euphoria of winning the World Cinema Dramatic Competition diadem at the recently concluded Sundance Film Festival in the United States.
Also, Kunle Afolayan, who screened his film, Citation, at FESPACO in 2021 has been invited to chair the Jury of ‘Official Perspectives’ section, where eleven films are in competition.
A total of 170 films out of 1,200 films submitted have been selected for various categories in a year that the festival is promoting the theme: “African Cinema And Culture Of Peace.”
“Since its creation in 1969, no edition has ever been cancelled,” says festival Director General, Alex Moussa Sawadogo.
The last edition in 2021, despite covid19 pandemic and security crisis, was well-attended.
“This event is a unique platform because it has managed to bring together all those who are interested in African audio-visual and who come to discover new gems, produce new content and find producers and partners,” Sawadogo posited.
30 of the 170 films selected are Burkinabe films, which, according to Sawadogo, shows that production exists, that it is strong and dynamic.
He is also confident that the festival will pull through inspite of the security concerns arising from incessant scares of coups amd counter coups in Burkina Faso.
“Our authorities are with us for the safety of the festival, for the happiness of all the professionals and the public who will be there,” he stated.
The last time a Nigerian born director won the Golden Lion of Yennega, FESPACO’s highest prize, was in 2007, through Newton Aduaka’s ‘Ezra’. Obasi’s Mami Water will seek to recreate that feat, and take over the mantle from ‘The Gravedigger’s Wife’, the Somali film that won in 2021.
But it is up against strong films that include Apollina Traore’s latest film, Sira; The Planters’ Plantation by Dingha Young (Cameroon); Ashkal by Youssef Chebbi (Tunisia) and Abu Sadam by Nafine Khan (Egypt).
Other strong films in competition are Shimoni by Angela Wamai (Kenya); The Blue Caftan by Maryam Touzani (Morocco); The Last Queen by Damien Ounouri (Algeria); Maputo Nakuzandza by Adriane Zampaulo (Mozambique); Bantu Mama by Ivan Herrera (Dominican Republic) and Simin Zetwal by David Constantin (Mauritius).
