Africa.Film

Le Festival Pan-Africain du Cinema et de la Television de Ouagadougou (FESPACO) , aka The Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou has recently concluded. The biennial film festival that celebrates African cinema gave tribute to the legendary Ousemane Sembene who pioneered the festival and passed away in 2007.

It’s been evident that the contenders for awards have been more Francophone than Pan-African. Another issue has been the ubiquitous use of cheaper digital technology rather than 35mm film, whose steep cost limits entries.

Selome Gerima, associate producer of Teza, a movie about the Red Terror in Ethiopia and winner of the Golden Stallion of Yennenga – the top prize at FESPACO said:

Africa really has to change its way of making films. I don’t believe in going and begging to the donors; they will not take us anywhere. We have to unite and have some kind of African film bank, to sell scripts, make loans, find outlets, so we can be independent.

A recognised recurring issue with the films is distribution, with a number of films at FESPACO remaining unseen on the African continent and further afield. I’m seriously considering Ouagadougou in 2011.

In response, the AFRICALA VOTE FILM FESTIVAL (hat tip Africa is a Country) is the first online African film festival, with a rich selection of short films from across the continent. The winning short has a spot reserved in the African Film Festival in Mexico City, at the end of April 2009. Needless to say, this would not be possible without sponsorship.

The main goal of the festival is to make use of new technology to promote independent film productions, which currently face great obstacles in reaching the masses.  Through this free, democratic distribution method, the public will be introduced to talented new names in the cinema world, while producers will have the opportunity to promote their films. Increasing the number of viewers and enabling them able to vote and comment on their favorite films, will additionally benefit traditional film distributors in search of new productions.  In AFRICALA VOTE FILM FESTIVAL, we hope to help Africa’s up-and-coming filmmakers place their continent´s cinema within the click of a mouse.

You know what to do: vote!