Underplayed Gems

Les Fespakistes (2001)

Les Fespakistes poster
Genre
documentary film
Country
Burkina Faso, France
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

Filmmakers, actors, and others at the 2001 FESPACO film festival in Burkina Faso talk about the future of African cinema. They discuss how hard it is to make movies in countries that often lack any film institutions. The film shares their hopes and the harsh reality of film production in Africa at that time.

documentary-stylethoughtfulunsettlingearnestconversationalfrustratingeye-openingslow-paced

What happens

Les Fespakistes est un documentaire franco-burkinabè réalisé en 2001 par François Kotlarski et Éric Münch. Cinéastes, acteurs et autres protagonistes du FESPACO 2001 (Festival du Film Panafricain de Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso) s’interrogent sur l’avenir du cinéma africain et sur la difficulté de faire des films dans des pays qui n’ont bien souvent aucune institution consacrée au cinéma. Chacun essaye de chercher quel serait l’idéal de ce cinéma en devenir. Ce film est un essai, un état des lieux de la production cinématographique en Afrique en ce début de millénaire. Il s’agit d’un manifeste, d’un constat terrible, sans appel. En offrant la parole aux cinéastes africains, tels Gaston Kaboré, Sembène Ousmane, Dani Kouyaté, Mohamed Camara, Kitia Touré, etc., le film initie les spectateurs à une découverte de l’Afrique trop souvent cachée derrière le voile pudique et pur de la coopération économique et artistique. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.