Despite fears of insecurity amid jihadists attacks, Africa’s largest film festival tagged FESPACO, opened successfully in Burkina Faso and is gradually gathering momentum, according to the organisers of the event.
The weeklong FESPACO which is holding in Ougadougou, the capital of the violence-prone West African country, is aimed at offering hope and a symbol of endurance after years of political strife and Islamic extremist attacks, which killed thousands of people and displaced nearly two million.
“We only have FESPACO left to prevent us from thinking about what’s going on,” a Burkinabe actress, Maimouna Ndiaye, who has four submissions in this year’s competition, said at the opening ceremony.
“This is the event that must not be canceled no matter the situation,” Ndiaye said.
More than 15,000 people, including celebrities from Nigeria, Senegal and Ivory Coast are expected in Ouagadougou for FESPACO, which is Africa’s biggest film festival launched in 1969.
In this year’s edition, over 1,300 films were submitted for consideration and 100 have been selected to compete from 35 African countries and the diaspora, including movies from Dominican Republic and Haiti.
Among the nominations is top Burkinabe director and producer, Apolline Traore, whose film “Sira”, which is considered a front-runner in this year’s competition, portrays the sufferings of Burkinabes in the long years of strife occasioned by insurgents linked to the Islamic State and the Al-Qaeda groups.
“The world has painted Burkina Faso as a red country. It’s dangerous to come to my country, as they say. We’re probably a little crumbled but we’re not down,” Traore said.