The ECOWAS Commission is instituting the award for the Best film Producer at this year’s Pan-African Television and Film Festival (FESPACO), which opened on 28^th February 2015, as a way of boosting the organization’s involvement and visibility at the popular continental cinema event held in Ouagadougou, the Burkinabe capital.

ECOWAS has been a major FESPACO partner since 1993. The Best Producer Award worth 10 million FCFA follows the Integration Award worth 15 million FCFA instituted by the regional organization in 2009.

The President of the ECOWAS Commission H.E. Kadré Désiré Ouédraogo, who will personally present the awards and accompanying trophies during the closing ceremony of the current 24^th edition of the cinema festival on 7^th March 2015, described the biannual cultural event as the most important of its kind, devoted to films produced by African film-makers.

As in previous editions, ECOWAS’ stand will also be visible at the festival venue this year with various presentations and exhibitions on the organization’s history, goals, Community institutions and specialized agencies, as well as achievements, projects and programmes and the ECOWAS Vision 2020.

Visitors will also be able to obtain information and promotional brochures on ECOWAS and participate in quizzes and a Q&A game with banded gift items such as caps, T-shirts, calendars, diaries, pens, as prizes for winners.

An ECOWAS delegation led by the Director of Education and Culture, Prof. Abdoulaye Maga is already in Ouagadougou making necessary contacts with FESPACO organizers towards ensuring a successful outing.

The FESPACO General Delegate Ardiouma Soma and other officials have received the ECOWAS delegation, commending the organization’s positive involvement and collaboration for nearly a quarter of a century of the festival’s inception.

At the 2015 edition, some 134 films have been selected for screening from the 720 received by the selection committee, including 20 feature films from 17 countries that will compete for the coveted Yennenga Prize, FESPACO’s highest award.

Under the theme “African Cinema, production and distribution in a digital age,” this year’s edition promises to lay emphasis on technological evolution in response to the concerns of film-making professionals, and the need to incorporate works from the Africa Diaspora

“What will change with the acceptance of the digital production is that there will no longer be the need for film-makers to waste money converting their films into 35mm format just because of the FESPACO competition” one of the organizers said.