African film festival to see special prize for short-film

The guild of African film directors and producers, a Paris based NGO, will reward a short-film with the special Thomas Sankara prize during the Pan-African festival known as FESPACO in Burkina Faso.

56283049 (about 4,830 U.S. dollars) is a tribute to the deceased Thomas Sankara who ruled the revolutionary Burkina Faso in the 1980s, promoters of the NGO said Sunday in the capital Ouagadougou. “We are not looking for a revolutionary film. Cinema is already a revolutionary deed,” Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda, chairman of the NGO.

“Making a film in Africa is already an act of commitment and resistance,” he added.

Thomas Sankara is the father of Burkina Faso revolution and was assassinated in October 1987 during a coup that brought to power President Blaise Compaore, himself driven from power by a popular uprising in October 2014.

FESPACO, the Pan-African cinema and television festival, is holding its 25th edition that kicked off on Saturday in Ouagadougou.

A total of 150 films are in competition and 20 are vying for the golden “Stallion of Yennega”, the grand prize.

Held under the theme of “cinema and audiovisual professions and training,” the festival will close on March 4. Enditem