See also:
» 06.05.2009 - Nigerian filmmakers making a global mark
» 15.05.2006 - African movie channel launched in UK
» 01.03.2006 - Nigeria gears up for 1st Zuma Film Festival
» 07.03.2005 - South Africa's "Drum" wins at Fespaco
» 03.03.2005 - Ouagadougou culture life blossoms during Fespaco
» 01.03.2005 - Finances discussed at pan-African film festival
» 28.02.2005 - Two killed as Burkina Faso film festival opens
» 13.09.2004 - Nigeria's filmmakers "comply with censors board"











China wholesale online through DHgate.com


Houlihan's coupons


Finn autentiske matoppskrifter fra hele verden på Verdensmat.no:
Gazpacho Børek Kartoffelsalat Taboulé Gulasj Albóndigas Cevapi Rougaille Japrak sarma Zwiebelbrot Klopse Giouvetsi Paella Pljeskavica Pica pau Pulpo a la gallega Flammkuchen Langosj Tapenade Chatsjapuri Pasulj Lassi Kartoffelpuffer Tortilla Raznjici Knödel Lentejas Bœuf bourguignon Korianderchutney Brenneslesuppe Proia Sæbsi kavurma Sardinske calamares


Autentiske matoppskrifter fra hele verden finner du på Verdensmat.no:
Réunion Portugal Aserbajdsjan Serbia Tyskland Seychellene Bosnia Spania Libanon Belgia India Kroatia Hellas Italia Ungarn Komorene Georgia Mauritius Østerrike Romania Frankrike


Burkina Faso | Nigeria
Culture - Arts | Society

Nollywood absent in Africa's Fespaco film festival

afrol News, 2 March - Despite being the third biggest film industry in the world after Hollywood and Bollywood, Nigeria's Nollywood films have been absent from the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO), held in Burkina Faso. Addicted lovers of Nigerian films have not been at ease about the development.

Apart from "Ezra", whose director, Newton Aduaka is based in France, no other Nigerian film hit the screens in the prestigious Ouagadougou festival.

A Nigerian filmmaker, Mahmoud Balogun attributed the reason to discrimination because the event is packaged in such a way that it does not favour Nollywood.

FESPACO Executive, Baba Hamma, defended that Nollywood films do not pass their standard test simply because of differences in how they tell stories.

He said the festival is for films that are recorded on 35 mm, a totally different style Nollywood uses.

Mr Hamma added that Nollywood films are not subtitled, which is why its films are not meant for the Francophone countries.

Other African filmmakers are taking full advantage of the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO), the capital of Burkina Faso, to showcase their potentials in film making.

Considered as the largest and most important African film festival, the annual event, which opened last week at Ouagadougou's soccer stadium, attracted thousands of people. It is ironical for most people to see local film lovers brushing shoulders with Western tourists to watch films that portray the realities in African.

Showing the best of African cinema, a culture which is rapidly fading in the continent, film directors focused on topics such as African village life, illegal immigration, child soldiers, war, among others.

The Guinean film director of "Code Phenix", Boubakar Diallo, said Africans recognise themselves in the films because their own stories have been told.

With all the popularity they have amassed among the Burkinabe people, film directors that still are grappling with a lot of problems in the continent, find it uneasy to turn their films into money.

Besides the fading out of cinema culture in most African countries, filmmakers in the continent also grapple with so many problems to survive. This includes frictions with politicians for making films that threaten their interest and censorship by the state-owned media that are most under-funded.

Africa does not only have huge filmmaking potentials, but it is also endowed with a large market.

However, the greatest challenge to those engaged in the film business is how to break all the hurdles along the way so as to turn their products into money in their own countries.

Most filmmakers confessed that they are yet to grab the market of both Africa and the West.

Nigeria's film industry, on the other hand, is a unique example in Africa. Africa's most populous country's Nollywood has continued to be a hot cake in Africa and even beyond. Apart from Hollywood and Bollywood, Nollywood is ranked second to no other film industry in the world when it comes to productivity.

Because they are sold on VCD and mostly in Anglophone countries, the popular Nollywood films have not been on showcased in Ouagadougou, where most of the displayed films were jointly funded by European donors and television channels.

While an Anglophone country like Nigeria is making a breakthrough, one wonders what countries in the Francophone part of Africa are doing so that their products hit the local and international markets.

Foreign distributors provide answers to the question, arguing that for their films to become palatable to the Western audience, they must not be too political.

Nouri Bouzid, whose "Making-off" won The Golden Tanit in the last Carthage Film Festival in Tunis, has his film included in the full length feature competition. Mr Nouri's film is among 20 Tunisian films at the Ouagadougou festival.

Tunisia, a French speaking country, is endowed with vast potentials and experience in short-length film production, which observers say should be tapped by the rest of Africa.



- Create an e-mail alert for Burkina Faso news
- Create an e-mail alert for Nigeria news
- Create an e-mail alert for Culture - Arts news
- Create an e-mail alert for Society news


 
    Printable version


On the Afrol News front page now

Rwanda
Rwanda succeeds including citizens in formal financial sector

afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.

Famine warning: "South Sudan is imploding"

afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
Guinea
Panic in West Africa after Ebola outbreak in Guinea

afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia tightens its already strict anti-gay laws

afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia plans Africa's biggest dam

afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.



front page | news | countries | archive | currencies | news alerts login | about afrol News | contact | advertise | español 

©  afrol News. Reproducing or buying afrol News' articles.

   You can contact us at mail@afrol.com