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Out of the limelight: The privileging of auteurs over actors at FESPACO
- Source: Journal of African Cinemas, Volume 14, Issue FESPACO@50 - Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Africa’s Most Important Film Festival and Cultural Event, Nov 2022, p. 49 - 63
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- 08 Jun 2020
- 15 Jul 2021
- 01 Nov 2022
Abstract
This article uses the changing fortunes of actors at the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) over the last 50 years as a point of departure to examine how their creative agency and professional opportunities have been delimited by the dominant film culture in West Africa. Taking into consideration the various efforts, such as awards and the organization of colloquia, made by the festival to recognize their work, it argues that the discontinuity of such promotion has kept them overshadowed by directors, for whom the festival was initially established. It examines the iconography of the star as introduced to Africa by commercial imports and deconstructed by filmmakers like Djibril Diop Mambéty and Flora Gomes. This article posits that the transnational circulation of certain key performers within West African cinema bears the promise of a more elaborate network of African film production and distribution to come.