Burkina Faso - African Film Festival at Ouagadougou

Burkina Faso - African Film Festival at Ouagadougou

  

February 1995 A million people attended the 25th Pan-African Film Festival (FESPACO) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. It is Africa's most important cultural event, second only to the annual soccer championships. Winnie Mandela and other leading African lights are expected to attend. South Africa takes part officially for the first time. Watch a film in an African city and the chances are it will be open-air with giant insects swooping overhead and an enthusiastic audience shouting encouragement at the screen. In a continent with an illiterate majority and few televisions, the importance of cinema cannot be ignored. It has become a source of great national pride, and for many it is helping to re-establish a post-colonial cultural identity. 1995 is the international centenary of cinema, and in commemoration FESPACO is opening the first ever African film archive.