Fespaco 2009, 25th February
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Fespaco @ 40
Fespaco, the African film festival, has become the biggest regular cultural event on the continent - thanks to the efforts of a few serious film enthusiasts, who founded the festival in 1969.
For one week every two years, the city of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso is flooded with people as cinemas there screen scores of newly-released African films.
The Pan-African film and television festival is a must for movie industry professionals, offering them the chance to establish working relationships, exchange ideas and promote their work.
Fespaco's stated aim is to "contribute to the expansion and development of African cinema as a means of expression, education and awareness-raising."
The History of Fespaco
Over the last 36 years, the citizens of Burkina Faso have welcomed visitors from across the continent and beyond.
The festival has inspired ordinary citizens and film-makers alike since Fespaco became an institution - by governmental decree - on 7 January 1972.
That year saw the first official best film award go to Le Wazzou Polygame, directed by Oumarou Ganda of Niger.
Since then the best film award has been won by directors from Cameroon, Morocco, Mali, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Ghana, DR Congo and Mauritania.
From 1985 onwards, the Festival adopted different themes. The first was "the cinema, people, and liberation" - this year's is "tourism and cultural heritage."
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