Tag: FESPACO 2013

What did we celebrate in 2013 in Africa?

On By Dr. Y.In Great Moments1 Comment
Super Eagles lifting the trophy
Super Eagles lifting the trophy
Pretty Yende
Pretty Yende

There was a lot to celebrate in Africa in 2013.  Here are some of those things.

– In January, South African opera singer, Pretty Yende, was the first African to perform at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City.  You can watch her interview on BBC.

– On February 10, Nigeria’s Super Eagles won this year’s African Cup of Nations.  Stephen Keshi’s team made us all proud.

– In March, FESPACO 2013 was a success and featured movies and documentaries from across the continent.

FESPACO 2013
FESPACO 2013

– On March 14, Uhuru Kenyatta won Kenya’s presidential elections.  These elections were the people’s choice, and Uhuru Kenyatta defeated the ‘machine’-chose guy Raila Odinga (Obama’s cousin); a very good example of democracy by Africans for Africans.

– In April, Cecile Kyenge became the first Black minister nominated in Italy.  Dr. Kyenge is originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

– On 31 July, Zimbabwe general and presidential elections went peacefully with the full re-election of Robert Mugabe.

– In August, 12 political figures from Laurent Gbagbo‘s FPI were released in Côte d’Ivoire.  Among them was Pascal Affi N’Guessan, previous prime minister of Gbagbo, who was unjustly detained without hearing for 2 years.

Samuel Eto'o Fils 'Birth of a Champion'
Samuel Eto’o Fils ‘Birth of a Champion’

– NoViolet Bulawayo was the first black African woman and Zimbabwean author to be shortlisted for the prestigious Man Booker Prize for her novel We need new names.

– In September, Samuel Eto’o Fils (Cameroonian and one of Africa’s best soccer forward) came out with an autobiographic comic book.  Birth of a Champion is the first comic book on an African football player, and will hopefully inspire many youths around the globe.

– In November, Cameroonian author Léonora Miano won the 2013 Feminina Prize for her novel La Saison de l’Ombre, which talks about slavery from those who lived after seeing their relatives captured.

Aliko Dangote
Aliko Dangote

– Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, vowed to build the largest privately owned refinery in Nigeria, which produces more oil than any other African country but must import most of the motor fuel and diesel it uses because existing refineries are dilapidated and inefficient.

Folorunsho Alakija
Folorunsho Alakija

– This year also saw two African women cross the billionaire bar: Isabel Dos Santos of Angola, and Folorunsho Alakija of Nigeria.  Alakija is actually the richest black woman billionaire ahead of Oprah.

– Five (5) African nations won their tickets to the World cup in Brazil 2014.  The 5 countries are: Algeria, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria.

FESPACO: An African Film Tradition

On By Dr. Y.In Great Art14 Comments
FESPACO 2013
FESPACO 2013

With the upcoming closing ceremony of the FESPACO this Saturday, I thought it important to talk about Africa’s film tradition. For starters, the FESPACO (Festival Panafricain du cinema et de la television de Ouagadougou) is the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou, the largest African film festival, held biennally in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. First established in 1969, and boasting some of the Africa’s greatest writers and filmmakers (like Ousmane Sembene), the FESPACO offers a chance to African filmmakers and professional to showcase their work, exchange ideas, and meet other filmmakers, and sponsors. Filmmakers from around the continent all come together in Ouagadougou which is transformed into the Hollywood or the Cannes of the continent for this special occasion. This year’s FESPACO is presided by legendary director Euzhan Palcy (who made: Rue Cases Negres, A Dry White Season, Ruby Bridges).

Golden Stallion of Yennenga
The Golden Stallion of Yennenga

This year, 755 movies are competing in different categories. 20 feature films will be competing for the Golden Stallion of Yennenga (Etalon d’Or de Yennenga) which will be awarded Saturday March 2nd. The select 20 features in the ‘long metrage’ section address various subjects such as clandestine immigration (‘La Pirogue’ from Senegalese Moussa Traore, which was a big hit at last year’s Cannes festival), journalism and censorship (‘Les Chevaux de Dieu’ by Moroccan Nabil Ayouch, also featured at Cannes 2012), love (‘Love in the Medina’, by Moroccan filmmaker Abdelhai Laraki), war (‘La genese de la bataille d’Alger’, by Algerian filmmaker Said Ould Khelifa), theft in society (How to steal 2 million, from South African Charlie Vundla), ‘La republique des Enfants’ (Children’s republic) by Bissau-Guinean filmmaker Flora Gomes– a country abandoned by adults where children organize themselves into a prosperous country, or revolution and prostitutes in a war camp (‘Virgem Margarida’ directed by Mozambican Licinio Azevedo – which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year).

Enjoy this photojournal by Nic Bothma on the the Guardian’s website. You can read some movies’ sypnosis on Gabonews. Enjoy the generic of this year’s festival, which tells the story of the famous princess Yennenga, and the festival.