Fespaco - The Film Verdict

Insight Into FESPACO

April 5, 2023 di Rashid Bahati

As a lover of African and African Diaspora film, attending the Fespaco film and television festival in Burkina Faso for the seventh time since 2005 was an inspiring experience. As one of Africa's largest and oldest film and television festivals and markets, Fespaco significantly impacts the local economy of Ouagadougou, the capital and most populated...

April 4, 2023 di Rashid Bahati

The 28th edition of the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) was an excellent success for Burkina Faso's capital. Thousands of Burkina Faso residents and international festivalgoers packed the Palais des Sports complex in the Ouaga 2000 district for opening ceremonies of the African continent's largest and oldest film festival, Fespaco. This year...

Night Nursery

November 4, 2021 di Oris Aigbokhaevbolo

Moumouni Sanou’s award-winning documentary about the reality of working girls in Burkina Faso is marred by its lack of discretion.

When A Farm Goes Aflame

November 3, 2021 di Oris Aigbokhaevbolo

Jide Tom Akinleminu brings a light touch to a personal but political project that could easily feel overwrought in other hands.

FESPACO 2021: The Verdict

October 28, 2021 di Oris Aigbokhaevbolo

Mati Diop's Atlantique (Atlantics) kicked off the 27th FESPACO, the Pan-African Film and Television Festival that takes place bi-annually in the Burkina Faso capital of Ouagadougou, in a screening that foreshadowed a couple of features of the 2021 festival. One of these was welcome, the other frustrating. The most welcome thing first. It was a...

Nameless

October 23, 2021 di Oris Aigbokhaevbolo

This small film from Rwanda looks too cheap to succeed on a large scale—but its filmmaker is worthy of attention going forward.

Oliver Black

October 23, 2021 di Oris Aigbokhaevbolo

Tawfik Baba almost ruins a good story about two Africans in a desert with a confusing ending and on-the-nose politics.

This is not a burial, it is a Resurrection still

This is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection

October 23, 2021 di Oris Aigbokhaevbolo

Jeremiah Lemohang Mosese has made a masterpiece that showcases the great talent of the late Mary Twala and announces his own genius.

Eyimofe

October 21, 2021 di Oris Aigbokhaevbolo

Chuko and Ari Esiri’s Eyimofe, which is competing at Fespaco, combines two semi-overlapping stories of Nigerians on the edge. The first story is titled Spain, the second Italy. The idea in both titles is destination. In both stories, the Nigerian characters have come to believe that another life, one of happiness and devoid of material lack,...