FESPACO, the most important biannual African film event, commences in Burkina Faso

Casa África supports the twenty second edition of the Ouagadougou Pan-African Film and Television Festival, FESPACO, which began last Saturday in Burkina Faso, through March 5th, focusing a day of its programme to presenting the cultural and commercial panorama of African films in Spain. This year, destiny has decided for the Hollywood Oscar gala, the cinematographic industry´s most luxurious showcase, to coincide with this "Cinderella" festival, with a small budget but a great cinematographic and creative interest. 

FESPACO is a biannual event that has brought nearly the entire African cinematographic industry to Burkina Faso in the last 44 years. In this edition, aside from feature film, short film and documentary competitions, all produced in Africa, FESPACO aims to foster reflections on the current status of African films, the changes that have arisen in the digital world and its adaptation, and strategies for making the industry known beyond the continent.

The Spanish FESPACO session took place today at the Azalai Independence Hotel, and it has presented models such as the Tarifa African Film Festival (FCAT), which is sponsored by Casa África. The Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (AECID, Spanish agency of International Cooperation for Development) and the mobile film programme it organises in Africa with Al-Tarab and the Cinenómada programme (also managed by Al-Tarab) and Casa África formed part of this informative event, that was divided into a section about the new roles of festivals, and another about new exhibit models that included a debate about the master lines and specific exhibition projects for African films in Europe, digital cinemas in Africa, and African films on the Internet. The event included the participation of the general director of Casa África, Ricardo Martínez Vázquez; the director of the FCAT, Mane Cisneros; the coordinator of the pilot project for implementing digital cinemas in Mozambique and the supervisor of ACP-EU countries for promoting African films.