FESPACO 2015 to go ahead
Credible sources from the FESPACO Secretariat in Ouagadougou say that the festival which is on the theme ‘African Cinema: Production and Distribution in the Digital Era,’ was nearly postponed due to the outbreak of the deadly Ebola disease in some West African countries. It is, however, back on track.
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Several international meetings planned to happen in Burkina Faso last year were postponed, relocated or simply cancelled.
The 2014 edition of the Faso International Cycle Race, for instance, was cancelled though Burkina Faso is not affected by the disease.
FESPACO is the biggest international meeting of African cinema. It gathers thousands of participants coming from all over the world. The jury for this year will be presided by Ghanaian film director, Kwaw Ansah.
Categories for competition at the 2015 festival include full-length feature, short film, television series and movies by African film schools.
Films from the African Diaspora can now contest for prizes in all the categories.
The cash that accompanies each trophy has from this year been raised from 10 million FCFA to 20 million FCFA.
Out of the total number of films in competition, Burkina Faso has entered 12 movies which represents the largest number of productions from a particular country seeking to win laurels.
The host country is followed by Morocco with six works.
The 20 films in the full-length feature category are from Burkina Faso, Egypt, Morocco, Senegal, Congo Brazaville, Guadeloupe, Algeria, Trinidad and Tobago and Guinea.
The rest are Ethiopia, Tunisia, Mali, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa and Mauritania.
As head of the jury, Mr Ansah and his colleagues would decide which movie out of the 20 in the full-length feature category wins the festival’s top prize called the Étalon de Yennenga.
A film by Akosua Adoma Owusu from Ghana called ‘Kwaku Ananse’ is competing in the short films category while the National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI) has two entries in the movies by African cinema schools category.