Burkina Faso's Pan-African film competition lacks Egypt's participation

Ahram Online, Thursday 31 Jan 2013

The 23rd edition of bi-annual Pan-African Festival of Cinema and Television of Ouagadougou scheduled to start 23 February lacks Egypt's participation in the official film competition

Film Festival, Burkina Faso

The 23rd edition of the Pan-African Festival of Cinema and Television of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, (FESPACO: Festival Panafricain du Cinéma et de la télévision de Ouagadougou) will take place from 23 February to 2 March 2013.

This bi-annual festival is considered among the most important film-related events in the African continent. This year the theme of the festival will be – ''African Cinema and Public Policy in Africa.''

Over one hundred films from all around Africa will be screened during the festival. They include feature and short movies, documentaries, television series, films of diaspora, and films done by African Cinema Schools, among other entries.

Countries participating in this year's edition of FESPACO are Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Senegal, Nigeria, Angola, Gabon, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mozambique, Rwanda, and Niger, among others.

The main award – the Étalon de Yennenga (Stalion of Yennenga) – is given to the film that best shows the African realities within the frame of the festival's main theme.  

Egypt is not listed in the official competition movies.  However, a documentary "Stories from Tahrir" by Egyptian filmmaker Khaled Sayed is the only entry from Egypt and is planned to be screened within the off-competition series MICA.

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