Abuja (Nigeria), 15 October 2021. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will take an active part, again this year, in the conduct of the Ouagadougou Pan-African Film and Television Festival (FESPACO), which will be held from 16 to 23 October 2021 in the presence of various festivalgoers from around the world to celebrate the African seventh art in all its diversity.

“Cinemas from Africa and the Diaspora: new perspectives, new challenges” will be the theme of this 27th edition which will feature Senegal as the Country of Honour. Despite the security and health situation, the organising committee wants to ensure the success of this event by maintaining all planned activities, with major innovations for this edition.

The West African organisation (ECOWAS), known as one of the major partners of FESPACO since 1993, decided this year to institute two other prizes namely the Special Prize for the Youngest Film Director (2,000,000 CFA francs) and the Special Prize for the Youngest Actor or Actress (1,000,000 CFA francs) in addition to the Prize for the Best Female Director, worth 10 million CFA francs, and the Prize for Integration, worth 15 million CFA francs.

The President of the ECOWAS Commission, H.E. Jean-Claude Kassi Brou will personally present the prizes and trophies to the various winners at the official award ceremony on 23 October 2021. The award ceremony will be attended by Presidents Roch March Christian Kaboré of Burkina Faso and Macky Sall of Senegal. In addition to the award ceremony, President Brou will meet with African youth in the Burkinabe capital to discuss ECOWAS ideals and current issues.

In addition to the presentation of Special Awards, ECOWAS will host a stand decorated in its colours. The stand will be used to raise public awareness through presentations on the organisation’s history, objectives, management, institutions and specialised agencies, fundamental principles, achievements, projects and programmes as well as the Vision 2020, including the major challenges and prospects

Visitors at the ECOWAS stand will also be given educational and information materials on ECOWAS and will take part in question-and-answer quizzes featuring prizes that include ECOWAS advertising materials such as caps, T-shirts, calendars, diaries, pens, etc.

It should be noted that an ECOWAS delegation, led by Dr. Mamadu Jao, ECOWAS Commissioner for Education, Science and Culture and other members such as Prof. Abdoulaye MAGA, Director of Education, Science and Culture, and Dr. Raguidissida Emile Zida, Head of Culture Division, will be present from 15 October 2021 in the Burknabé capital to ensure the success of the event.

The Ouagadougou Pan-African Film and Television Festival (FESPACO) is one of the largest regular cultural events on the African continent. It comprises the Festival section and the African International Film and Television Market (MICA) section. It is a biennial festival, which highlights the work of African culture professionals in the cinematography and film industry. The Festival, which was initially scheduled for February 2021 but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, will now take place from 16 to 23 October 2021. The organising committee of the 27th edition has received more than one thousand (1000) films from twenty African countries and the African Diaspora for the most prestigious award of the festival “Etalon d’Or de Yennenga”.