In the lead-up to the opening of this year's FESPACO event, which will take place from October 16 through 23 in Ouagadougou, Unifrance is pleased to announce our first direct collaboration with this major pan-African film and television festival (whose general director is Alex Moussa Sawadogo), in a move to reinforce and diversify our actions directed toward Africa.
The selection of productions presented at the 2021 edition of FESPACO includes a large number of French films, the majority of which are coproductions. At the festival's request, UniFrance's involvement this year will also cover the travel costs for a number of actors, directors, and producers from the films selected. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Mati Diop, Leyla Bouzid, Philippe Lacôte, and Axel Guyot feature among invited guests, along with Aïssa Maïga and Sébastien Onomo, the two co-presidents of the Groupe Francophone Éric Névé.
UniFrance's strategy in Africa, which stems directly from discussions undertaken by the Groupe Francophone, is thus expanding its presence to encompass FESCAPO, while also continuing initiatives in Senegal in support of the 4th edition of the Dakar Court festival, to be held from December 5 through 11. During this event, as in previous years, the 5th Francophone Film Meetings in Africa will take place in three stages:
- A program of French and French-language short films to be screened on Tuesday, December 7, at the Institut Français in Dakar (IFD)
- Two roundtable discussions devoted to the transition from short films to features and the promotion of African cinema, on December 8 and 9
- A special screening of Above Water, in the presence of the film's director Aïssa Maïga, on December 10 at the Théâtre de Verdure at the IFD.
French productions and coproductions presented at FESPACO 2021
Official Competition
- Atlantics: A Ghost Love Story by Mati Diop
- Days of Cannibalism by Teboho Edkins
- Feathers by Omar El Zohairy
- Freda by Gessica Geneus
- The Gravedigger's Wife by Khadar Ayderus Ahmed
- Night of the Kings by Philippe Lacôte
- Les Trois Lascars by Boubakar Diallo
- Lingui - The Sacred Bonds by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
- A Tale of Love and Desire by Leyla Bouzid
Short Films - Official Competition
- Boyi biyo (Double Lung) by Anne-Bertille Vopiande Ndeysseit
- Bablinga by Fabien Dao
- Traditional Fireplace by Moïse Togo
- Les Tissus blancs by Moly Kane
- Tabaski by Laurence Attali
- Yamb by Winnele Veyret
UniFrance strengthens its actions in Africa
After a difficult year in 2020, UniFrance wishes to intensify its support to distributors of French films across Africa (Les Films 26 and Pathé BC Afrique), who regularly benefit from support schemes administered by the UniFrance Distribution Aid Committee.
In addition, for this final quarter of 2021, we will be focusing particular attention on the promotion of films for young audiences in Tunisia. In response to a proposal from three distributors, UniFrance will take charge of the marketing campaign for three films (The Wolf and the Lion, Even Mice Belong in Heaven, and Around the World in 80 Days), which are scheduled for release on Tunisian screens at the end of the year.
In Morocco, UniFrance has recently been in discussions with the Marrakech International Film Festival in view of a collaboration with the event in 2022.
Finally, Rwanda will be placed in the spotlight between now and the end of the year, with the return of the Francophone Trophies as a physical event, with the awards ceremony to be held in Kigali on December 4, just a few days prior to DISCOP, the film and television content market, which will take place at the Kigali Convention Center from December 12 through 14.
In Burkina Faso, as in Senegal and Rwanda, the links between films and television productions are many and various, thus allowing UniFrance to further strengthen its presence on the African continent.
