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 There was no Ivorian representation at FESPACO's opening ceremony Ivorians stay away from FESPACO Actors and directors from Cote d'Ivoire are conspicuous by their absence at FESPACO 2003, and several Ivorian works are apparently not on show including one much-heralded feature film. In Ouagadougou, it's the talk of the town that the Ivorians are largely absent from Fespaco. With political tension high between Burkina Faso and Cote d'Ivoire, both sides are making contradictory allegations about why they aren't at FESPACO in numbers. Newspaper reports in Burkina Faso allege the Ivorians have not travelled because the authorities in Abidjan have advised them that their lives would be at risk in Ouagadougou. Many Ivorians feel there has been a very deliberate rejection by the FESPACO committee of one Ivorian film in particular; Roues Libre directed by Sidiki Sijiri Bakaba. Roues Libre was among 59 good entries to the FESPACO long film competition, but didn’t make it onto the final list of 16. Those not placed in competition are still put in the "panorama" section of the festival. Fespaco Director Baba Hama said it was quite normal for a film maker to be sad at not making it to the final stage because they all want to win. “But it's impossible to enter everybody. So there's no explaination to give he said. Adding “It's just the result of the work done by the selection committee, that’s all". Mr Hama said there was no political motivation behind the decision to drop Roues Libre. Meanwhile ordinary Burkinabe are referring to the absence of the Ivorians as a boycott. |
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