http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/296/fespaco.jpgA biannual source of tremendous local pride, the largest cultural event on the continent, and the premiere pan-African film festival worldwide, FESPACO (Festival panafricain du cinéma et de la télévision de Ouagadougou), is the destination of African film cinephiles, film and media industry professionals, actors, journalists and film critics, festival programmers, film students and filmmakers. The festival was created in 1969 and always held in Ouagadougou but after a government decree in 1972, FESPACO became an institution. The theme for the 20th edition of the 2007 festival is 'The Actor in the Creation and Promotion of African Films'.

Ouaga, a bustling, moped-saturated, smoldering capitol city is a paradise for lovers of African cinema. The city is awash with moviegoers and they get to intensely do it for almost ten days, the duration of the festival. The cinemas are filled with the Burkinabe (men, women and children) and visitors or festivaliers, a term coined by locals, soaking up African images and stories that will rarely be seen again albeit art-house programmes in the West or international African-themed festivals. The city is filled with wonderful statues and art work commemorating the spirit and history of FESPACO, most notably, the Place des Cineaste, a beautiful statue of film reels in the middle of a busy street. There are movie posters everywhere and festival t-shirts and memorabilia for sale on many corners. There is a FESPACO center that administers registration, fees and badges but it is utter confusion and a process that may mean an entire day in long queues, limited bilingual assistance and technological support. The process is frustrating and made worse by Western management visions of operating as if we are in Paris or New York, so given the lack of reliable technological infrastructure and specialized skills in the city, it is unfair and again, overlooking the benefit of being absorbed in an African cinephile city that despite many limitations, strives to continually showcase African filmmakers more than any other city in the world so be prepared to grab a Brakina or Castel (very good local beers) and chill.

This was my first FESPACO, and my first visit to this land-locked nation with such cinematic pride. There are two lasting impressions. The first is how the festival is so incredibly male-dominated and after all these years no programming has developed to showcase African women directors, provide a forum or special film retrospective of the few African women directors who have a body of work. The second is the reality of the heavy Francophone weight pervasive throughout the festival, informing its structure; almost exclusively funded by largely French (France) and European resources, the tension between the Anglophone and Francophone cinema and television community is evident. French global television network TV5Monde, ARTE, Organisation International de la Francophonie, and Radio France International were everywhere; and a lack of fluency in French is a critical deficit, reducing film screening choices almost in half because few movies have English subtitles. The lack of a translation mechanism and financial resources for subtitling is an ongoing issue and greatly diminishes the 'international' perspective considerably. The dominance of France was evident everywhere with the legions of French youth; French television news media types running around with microphones and television camerapersons in tow; and those 'teeth-sucking' moments during the film trailer when, for many of the films screened, a beautiful black woman with a bright smile walks down the street, singing and casually handing white passerby’s chilled bottles of Coca-Cola from a large shoulder bag then the screen goes to a slick TV5Monde graphic! Every screening I attended, the audience made their distaste loud and clear. And I thought only Americans were bombarded with trailers of crass junk food commercials at the cinema!

Thus the 'pan' in pan-African does not completely exist and has been a constant complaint since FESPACO’s beginning. Francophone African countries dominate the film programme and there are even fewer films representing the diaspora. The Paul Robeson Initiative, now known as Promoting Reel African Images (PRAI) was launched in recent years to address this issue and fill the gap and films included in the programme compete for the FESPACO Diaspora Prize, the Paul Robeson Award. The entire PRAI program was screened at CENASA (Centre national des arte du spectacles et de l’audiovisuel) but the same issue existed—the majority of the films were in English language with no French subtitles plus the location seemed to be segregate the programme from the more popular, centrally located cinemas which the Burkinabe frequented.

But the opportunity to witness thousands of African film lovers in one place is a sight to behold. The magnitude of the pride is evident during the opening and closing ceremonies where visitors and the Burkinabe filled the stadium to capacity and enjoy live music, drummers, traditional dancers, horseback riders in honor of the Yennega Stallion legend, awards presented and ending with glorious fireworks.

There are five air-conditioned, technically-equipped cinemas with small bars and cafes throughout Ouaga to view the festival programme: Cine Neerwaya; the Centre Culturel George Melies, the French Cultural Center (CCGM) which houses the International Market of African television and cinema (MICA) during FESPACO; CENASA; and my favorite, Cine Burkina, right on a busy shopping street in the heart of town. Films are running concurrently so the day and evening is spent walking along the dusty streets, stopping to eat and drink while waiting for the next film to start. And when a new film opens, two very young FESPACO representatives walk out on stage accompanied by a drummer and the director. The film, and director are introduced in French and English and the director is allowed to speak about the movie before the screening. That’s the spirit!

Hotel Independence is the unofficial headquarters and where the majority of festivaliers lodge; it has enjoyed much better days, the food is overpriced and not very good; tiny rooms; the lobby is cramped and filled with local vendors, a currency exchange booth and four terminal business centers so it is hardly conducive to the swell of people wanting to hangout and network; and poolside is poorly lit with bats swooping around at night. But the evening entertainment on a small band stage near the pool was not to be missed; a wonderful band featured a drumming troupe, excellent female vocalists and a dancer on stilts grooving to the beautiful acoustic guitar, high life, bossa nova, R&B and American pop music.

Alongside the film screenings were a number of workshops and screenings sponsored by La Guilde Africaine Des Realisateurs Producteurs (The Guild of African Directors and Producers) known as 'La Guilde', an initiative of young, progressive African filmmakers, many living in Europe and Africa, defining a new and alternative approach and strategy to the old-guard, pan-African Federation of Filmmakers (FESPACI); workshops included panels and roundtables on African film distribution, technology and cinema, globalisation and cinema and the role of women in African film. And to further demonstrate Burkina Faso’s commitment to sustaining FESPACO and supporting, teaching and training African filmmakers—on the continent and throughout the diaspora—Gaston Kabore, the eminent Burkinabe director and former Secretary General of FESPACO, established Imagine Film Training Institute a multi-story building described as a space for the transmission of knowledge and expertise that houses an African film repository, screening and conference rooms, editing decks and beautiful outdoor eating and lounge areas. A huge portrait of Paul Robeson—a lifelong pan-Africanist and champion of celebrating African culture worldwide.

The highlight and a somewhat tongue-in-cheek moment since I had visited the gravesite of assassinated former President, Thomas Sankara earlier in the week, was the celebration at the Presidential Palace at Kos-Yam of Blaise Compaoré, current President of Burkina Faso, given the well-known rumors about his role in the death of his predecessor. Many people throughout the diaspora refuse to attend the festival or even visit the country for this reason. The 'Palace' based far outside of the city, features manicured green grounds, waterfalls and formidable contemporary buildings (I was informed that this was not his only residence!), rivaling anything in Chicago or Los Angeles. The contrast, from the surrounding arid, drought-prone landscape, enormous poverty and lack of basic services is upsetting. But guests dined on roasted suckling pig, goat, champagne, very good wines and trays of fruits and fancy desserts as Compaoré and his wife Chantal and dignitaries seated in the dais as we were all entertained by various singers and musicians. Well known, jazz saxophonist, Manu Dibango, honorary president of FESPACO was honored during the event.

The FESPACO film programme included many categories of film: feature length, short, animation, documentary and special programmes: Focus on Morocco; Retrospective of Malian Cinema; Focus on South African Documentaries; and TV & Video—Series and Sitcoms.

The 2007 FESPACO Grand Prize Winners, Ezra, directed by Newton Aduaka, was the only Nigerian film in competition and was the winner of the Golden Stallion of Yennenga. The film is the heartbreaking story of a child soldier on trial and suffering memory loss and the realisation that he may have murdered his parents.

Les Saignantes directed by Jean-Pierre Bekolo won the Silver Stallion of Yennenga. Besides Bamako, Les Saignantes was my FESPACO favorite. Bekolo, Cameroonian-born and living in Paris is an active member of La Guilde and created the most provocative, visually stunning story of corruption, sexuality and supernatural power all taking place in Yaoundé in 2025. Nothing like his work has been done on screen from an African director. Les Saignantes is groundbreaking and represents a new cinematic form and a completely different way of telling a universal story.

Daratt ('dry season') directed by Mahammat Salleh Haroun (Chad) won the Bronze Stallion of Yennenga.

Le president a-t-il le Sida, ('does the President have Aids?') directed by Arnold Antonin (Haiti) won the FESPACO Paul Robeson Diaspora Prize.

Other standouts for me were:
Shoot The Messenger directed by Ngozi Onwurah (United Kingdom); one of the few women directors represented at FESPACO. She has a brave, satirical and controversial comedy examining race and self-image set in London, England.

La Vague Blanche ('the white wave') directed by Mohamed Ali El Mejoub (Morocco); beautifully shot, mesmerising, and weaves two doomed, desperate men together. In Arabic with English subtitles.

The Mother House directed by François Verster (South Africa); a poignant and troubling but ultimately hopeful documentary of a young girl, Miché, who is followed along with her HIV positive mother and grandmother for four years.

The JuJu Factory directed by Balafu Bakupa-Kayinda (France); an excellent film that provides a slice of life in the contemporary Congolese community of Brussels and the story of a writer who refuses to give into a 'European-African-village-travel-guide'.

Bamako directed by Abderrahmnane Sissako (Mauritania); also an active member of La Guilde has given us one of the most important African films in years. Sissako tells a very simple story of a marriage falling apart against the backdrop of a court trial indicting the World Bank. A masterpiece! Danny Glover produced the film and has a small role.

Salud! Directed by Connie Fields (USA)
Barakat! Directed by Djamila Sahraoui (Algeria)
Teranga Blues by Senegalese director Moussa Sene-Absa (Senegal)
Homeland directed by Jacqueline Kalimunda (Rwanda)
Some Kind of Funny Porto Rican directed by Claire Andrade-Watkins (USA)

FESPACO is amazing, overwhelming at times but fulfilling on many levels, I’ll sum it up in the words of director Newton Aduaka, stated during his emotional speech upon winning the Grand Prize, 'I produced the film (Ezra) in a pan-Africanist spirit'. Most of us attended FESPACO in a pan-Africanist spirit.

Unfortunately, the majority of the films will not be seen beyond the continent. But they hold a special place and moment in time for us—each FESPACO is a visual documentation of African history and contemporary life and times and I am immensely proud of having been a part of the 20th Edition. Fewer and fewer movie theatres exist in sub-Saharan Africa, distribution outlets are elusive and drying up, as are funding streams, but an indelible film spirit endures and a maverick group has emerged: insistent, bold, pan-Africanist, transnational and unwilling to do things as they have been done - the African cinema lion is ready to roar!

* Del Hornbuckle is a writer, jazz/electronica-head and librarian lives in Washington, DC.

* Please send comments to or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org

* FESPACO website

Let’s reflect for a moment on hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, who is in the diamond business now with a jewellery store, Simmons Jewellery Company, and has founded the Diamond Empowerment Fund.

Imagine my surprise and the television-viewing irony, when after grabbing my keys and jacket on my way to see Blood Diamond, there he was at a press conference on ABC News, holding hands with his bejewelled, estranged wife, Kymora Lee, and discussing his recent fact-finding trip to diamond mines in Botswana and South Africa.

I headed to the Cineplex with a funny taste in my mouth and a troubling question: Of all the industries on the African continent ripe for investment to “help Africans,” quoting Mr. Simmons, why diamonds?

But I’ll get back to Russell Simmons in a moment.

Blood Diamond, directed by Edward Zwick, is a mesmerizing personal account set in and around Sierra Leone in 1999 at the height of its civil war, a conflict that took the lives of tens of thousands and saw the displacement of more than two million people (well over one-third of the population), many of whom became refugees in neighbouring countries.

It’s the story of Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou), a humble fisherman, eking out a living with his young family, who has enough vision and foresight to risk almost everything to rescue his family and save his son, a white former soldier of fortune/mercenary, Danny Archer, now an amoral diamond smuggler, portrayed masterfully by Leonardo DiCaprio; and the American journalist Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly), who, conflicted and in love, unveils the human misery occurring at the hands of civil strife and African mineral exploitation.

Danny and Solomon’s paths cross early on while both are in prison. Danny is arrested while trying to smuggle diamonds into Liberia, posing as a National Geographic journalist and Solomon, forcibly removed from his razed village and now an illegal diamond labourer, is also imprisoned. Danny hears an RUF soldier, Captain Poison, yelling at Solomon, asking him: Where is the stone?

Therein lies the cinematic flaw, and yes, you’ve witnessed this before.

Solomon is introduced as an idyllic family man whose life is forever changed once the RUF destroy his village, shooting fleeing women and children and burning everything in sight. He narrowly escapes losing a limb by being identified as an ideal candidate for the back-breaking diamond “mining” labor - which literally means standing in riverbeds, sifting sediment for minerals. And the less desirables, one-by-one, have limbs chopped off when they’re not useful as child soldiers or mine workers.

We are introduced to the noble African, not unlike the black American protagonist, decent and upstanding, with little sex appeal, and loads of dignity and righteous anger to spare. Thus unfolds the classic Africa saga - an almost unimaginable story of courage and horror becomes a lush, breathtaking African backdrop of white redemption, black, power-hungry, violent, psychopathic rebels, and the good-as-gold, innocent African caught up in the madness.

Solomon spends his days sifting in the muddy river bed and one day finds a huge pink diamond while his captured son, Dia, begins the miseducation and training as a child soldier. The children are beaten, given drugs, and told that their families are dead. The brainwashing scenes are devastating. Dia is favored by the same mercurial, violent Captain Poison, and we watch as little by little, Dia’s childhood and humanity dissipate through indoctrinations, like being blindfolded and given an AK-47 to simply fire freely with an innocent person on the other side of the barrel.

This juxtaposition of father and son, both victims of a nation at war which is itself fuelled by the global greed for its natural resources, and the trajectory of finding a precious stone makes for a compelling tale of deliverance and survival. Solomon’s journey is that much more incredible given that it is based on actual events.

Unfortunately, that’s not good enough for Hollywood. What stands in its place is equally as compelling: Danny Archer.

What makes Danny tick is revealed as he stands at a beach bar in Sierra Leone, flirting with journalist Maddy Bowen, who immediately sees his connection to the blood diamond story she’s trying to uncover. When he tells her that he’s from Rhodesia and she jokingly reminds him that we now call the country Zimbabwe, she’s met with a cold glance. Danny is that complex white African who loves Africa equally to any black African. His emigrating ancestors tilled the soil, fought the wars, and lived and died in Africa. But his relationship is complicated by his presence as a “white African,” the sheer history of white people on the continent, and all the obligatory privileges that brings.

Orphaned very young, he becomes a soldier in South Africa and talks about fighting alongside black soldiers in Angola. This history that he believes gives him the right and pride to defend Africa is the same one that leaves him unsettled and willing to do the unthinkable to leave the continent. He is a complicated man with a killer smile. He is cunning and sleazy and violent on one hand and befriends Solomon, promising to help him track down his family if he leads him to the hidden diamond. On the other hand, he reminds Solomon that his white status opens doors and gets him close to places that Solomon otherwise would never have access to. Danny will never be on the winning team and will always be a phantom of sorts. He is despised as a pariah by the locals and viewed as a kind of plumber, doing the dirty work for the precious gem multinationals, international diamond traders, and the corrupt governments and business people that push the stones past borders and legal restrictions.

Danny knows he’s a throw-away, easily snuffed out if he makes too much noise or if the authorities start asking questions that lead past his bottom-feeder role in the chain. His weariness and dispassion is summed up when he, half-jokingly, asks Maddy if she’s in Africa “to make a difference” and later turns to the bartender and tells him, “But TIA…this is Africa.”

But after meeting Solomon, he’s all about finding the stone - he has a ticket out of Africa.

The film’s inability to be solely Danny or Solomon’s story flattens the overall character complexity. Maddy Bowen is getting to the bottom of a gripping story and spends a lot of time chastising Danny while at the same time falling in love with him. Her role is a critical one for Solomon, but in the movie she’s reduced to an idealistic helper, bothered by a lot but helping Danny manipulate everyone in his path to get to the stone. The implausibility of their relationship and Solomon simply following along against the visual horror all around diminishes the fact that this is based on a factual account—his account.

The lack of one strong narrative is replaced with horror-show violence, explosions, cat and mouse chases, scenes of brute force, and the disturbing post-pillage hedonism of the RUF soldiers. There are some gestures of “goodwill,” perhaps inserted to prove to audiences that some people outside of Africa at that time were consumed with more than the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal. The convened Conference On Diamonds discusses the phenomena of thousands of innocent lives lost each time a natural resource is discovered in Africa, i.e. ivory, gold, rubber, diamonds (ain’t that the truth). In a show of doing-the-right-thing, while the head of the Van Der Kamp cartel (translated: DeBeers) is at the table in support of stopping the violence, Solomon, Maddy, and Danny, on the run from rebels, land upon a hidden oasis in the middle of nowhere where a soft-spoken African is rehabilitating former child soldiers.

For newcomers to the conflict diamond issue, the film does a good job of spelling out the basic formula: conflict diamonds are smuggled illegally to Liberia (Liberian President Charles Taylor played a key role here) under the blind eye of corrupt officials, where a middle man is bribed to smuggle them to Antwerp, Belgium. They are then transported legally to be cut and polished in India whilst the London Stock Exchange allows the DeBeers cartel engine to hum along by keeping the majority of diamonds off the market so they remain rare and always high in demand, politely called an “artificial scarcity.” We learn that the majority of diamonds are actually stored in vaults in London!

The “conflict” is the illegal mining by forced labour for minerals, set in place by rebel soldiers in conflict zones, in this case the RUF. As the primary military focus, diamond mining became a major fund-raising exercise. Diamond profits buy weapons and guarantee future corruption, all fuelled by greed and the demand for precious stones.

Danny and Solomon find the diamond, but only after a reunion with Dia that almost costs their lives. And for the naysayers who believe that the process is no longer flawed now that the Kimberley Process exists, be reminded of South African Colonel Coetzee’s army in the movie and the ease with which he does an air strike to divert attention to get to Danny and the diamond. They have a deal to split the profit 50/50.

Like in Crash and most recently Babel (an excellent movie), Blood Diamond shows how Americans are unknowingly soaking up some very complicated issues through the way our lives intersect and how one deed, large or small, can take on a life of its own. The challenge for the director is to ensure that the story stays personal and while Blood Diamond had that opportunity, it just couldn’t decide whether to stay true to Solomon’s journey or to box office proceeds. I really like Djimon Hounsou and I’m certain he’s sick of being so damn proud all the time. Sidney Poitier suffered that fate decades ago. But in the end, it’s still Solomon’s story, however diminished his portrayal on screen. Danny faces his demons and makes the ultimate sacrifice, and Maddy gets her story that unveils the horror to the world.

But back to Russell Simmons. He’s spent a lot of time recently criticizing Blood Diamond, reading letters from Nelson Mandela and asking us to look at all sides of the issue, concerned that the film will scare people away from purchasing legitimate diamonds. Meanwhile, Zwick has accused Simmons of being a puppet for the diamond industry. A local radio DJ joked that Russell wants in on the bling-bling monopoly of Jacob the Jeweller, the jeweller to many, many hip-hop/rap artists who was arrested in June by the FBI for money laundering. Makes you wonder what kind of diamonds he’s dealt with…

(A direct quote): “Simmons has responded to Zwick’s comments and maintains that the film will scare people away from purchasing legitimate diamonds. The mining process of the precious stones have become profitable industries in some African countries.

“This is the arrogance of Warner Brothers pictures," Simmons told AllHipHop.com. "They were selfish self-centered, greedy and hurtful to the indigenous people of Africa. This messaging should have been changed after Nelson Mandela and other African Presidents asked Warner Brothers to change it. Period. I am going to continue to focus on the positive that can come out of this dialogue and work to help empower black Africa.”

Wow. I guess I might be moved if he didn’t own that jewellery store.

Three Questions for Mr. Simmons:

1) There are still over 200,000 child soldiers in Africa. That’s a mighty problem to overcome with the tools that are fuelling their recruitment. What’s the plan to save them?

2) And what to do about DeBeers? Is there a possibility Russell, a mere distributor with loads of celebrity in the operandus of a century-old cartel, might convince the corporate heads to flood the market with all those diamonds that are locked away? Maybe more Africans could afford to buy their natural resource or better yet, each get a free diamond.

3 )There’s a jewellery store on every corner in the U.S., so what’s so special about the Simmons Jewellery Company? Does he have franchise plans? Is there a possibility for a chain in Africa?

But God save Africa from good intentions. Can the continent handle any more (especially those with a profit motive buried somewhere deep)?

I realized after the movie that the bad taste in my mouth was the fact that an even wealthier black American, Oprah Winfrey, is taking a very different approach to “helping Africans” and, might I add, a longer-term investment—education—that has a much better payoff.

Alas, I’m reminded of Michael Jordan at the dawn of the Air Jordan Empire (FYI, the 2006 Air Jordan XXI costs $175.00!), touring sweatshops in Asia with the Nike Corporation and giving them a clean bill of health. Among activists, he’s now known as the world's most successful salesman of sweatshop-made shoes.

• Del Hornbuckle is a writer, jazz/electronica-head and librarian lives in Washington, DC. She will be attending FESPACO and writing a diary of the event.

• Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Further Reading:

-