African Union-SAFGRAD
SENEGAL AND MALI HONOURED AT THE 23rd EDITION OF PAN AFRICAN MOVIES FESTIVAL (FESPACO) IN OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO
Saturday, February 2nd, End Board! at Pan African Movies and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) chaired by H.E. Blaise Compaoré, Président of Burkina Faso. The closing ceremony held in the main Capital City stadium reveals the final victory of Senegal which wins the first Prize while African Union Special Award goes to a Malian movie.
Senegalese movies « TEY » (« TODAY » in English) from Alain GOMIS and LA PIROGUE (The Boat in English) from MoussaTouré respectively win the first and third prizes while the movie YEMA from the Algerian Djamila SAHRAOUI takes the second place of the FESPACO rewards. This is the first time that Senegal Cinema occupies the first place since the beginning of the Pan African Films meeting in 1969. A total of 10 prizes at least are earned by Senegalese films this year which were competing with 101 movies from 34 African Countries.
The African Union Special Prize for Promotion of Peace and Security in Africa, the winner is the Malian movies maker Ibrahima TOURE for his film « TOILES D’ARAIGNEES ». According to Ambassador Ambroise NIYONSABA, Chair of the AU Special Prize Jury, The Malian film is “a denunciation of a system characterized by violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms, physical and moral violence on women, brutality and torture, bad governance and corruption that are all sources of conflicts”.
Talking in the presence of the Burkinabe President, various Medias and a numerous public gathered at the main national soccer stadium, H.E Ambroise NIYONSABA said that: «This denunciation, played in an emotional way by the main actress of the film could contribute to sensitizing in favor of democracy, human rights, non-violence et culture of peace”. H.E Ambroise NIYONSABA who is the Special Envoy of AU Chairperson in Cote d’Ivoire, takes the opportunity of the FESPACO floor to call African Movies makers to get more interested in African peace and security thematic.
Institutionalized for the first time this year, AU Special Prize, an amount of Eight million CFA (USD 16,000.00) with a trophy is financially the highest among all the current FESPACO awards. This prize is a part of “Make Peace happen” campaign launched by AUC Peace and Security Department. Its five Jury Members composed by representatives of AU, UNESCO and FESPACO take advantages of facilities provided by African Union-SAFGRAD, the African Union specialized technical office for Semi Arid Food Grains Research and Development, Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), venue of the Pan African Films Festival.
Looking forward for the next FESPACO edition planned to take place in March 2015.
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Daily Meeting of AU Special Prize Jury Members at African Union SAFGRAD Office |
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For more details, please contact : Mr. Youssoupha MBENGUE, Senior information and outreach Officer
African Union-SAFGRAD, MbengueY@africa-union.org , Tel. +226 50 31 15 98/ +226 50 31 15 86
