The Long Take

The Long Take:Gaston Kaboré on the Formation, Evolution & Challenges to FEPACI & FESPACO Michael T. Martin Click for larger view View full resolution Figure F. Gaston Kaboré. Courtesy of FESPACO. [End Page 208] This extended conversation with Gaston Kaboré, renowned Burkinabe filmmaker, founding director of the Film Training Institute, IMAGINE, past President of the Pan-African Federation of Filmmakers (FEPACI), and recipient of the Étalon de Yennenga prize for Buud Yam (1997), was occasioned in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO). It occurred on November 2–5, 2019 at IMAGINE, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.1 Michael T. Martin: Given your long-standing engagement with both FEPACI and FESPACO, I would like to begin with the creation of FEPACI in 1969, although others contend, 1970. Who were the principle protagonists and the circumstance in FEPACI's formation? Why FEPACI? Gaston Kaboré: Why FEPACI? You must know that I am not among the first pioneers [wave] of African filmmakers. The second and third editions of FESPACO were the occasion in which I met most of them: Ousmane Sembène2, Paulin Soumanou Vieyra3, Med Hondo4, Oumarou Ganda5, Moustapha Alassane6, Timité Bassori7, Désiré Ecaré8, Mahama Johnson Traoré9, Safi Faye,10 and Sarah Maldoror.11 I am very grateful to them, my elders; among their accomplishments was the creation of the Pan-African Federation of Filmmakers. While I agree with you about which of the two dates FEPACI was formed, we have, more or less, officially adopted 1970, although discussions among filmmakers began in 1969 at a symposium organized by the Algerian cinémathèque during the first Pan-African cultural festival held in Algiers. This was where a provisional FEPACI committee was formed. A year later in 1970, FEPACI was officially established in Tunis. Moreover, the Carthage Film Festival [JCC, Les Journées Cinématographiques de Carthage], was itself established in 196612 by [End Page 209] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. Timité Bassori, Filmmaker, Ivory Coast, image courtesy FESPACO. Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 2. Safi Faye, Filmmaker, Senegal, image in the public domain. Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 3. Sarah Maldoror, Filmmaker, Guadeloupe, image in the public domain. [End Page 210] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 4. Paulin Soumanou Vieyra, Filmmaker, Senegal, image courtesy FESPACO. Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 5. Ousmane Sembène, Senegal, and Med Hondo, Mauritania, image courtesy FESPACO. [End Page 211] Tahar Cheriaa, who was among the most prominent theorists of Arab-African film. He illumined how cinematic narratives and their consumption by African audiences created dependency from outside of the continent because of the way films had been exhibited compelled African countries to import from abroad. In a country like Burkina Faso, which had between twelve to fifteen cinema houses in the 1970s and early 1980s, we imported hundreds of films rather than make them. Sembène described this circumstance as "a fact of dependency," where people consumed stories in which they were not themselves reflected. For the most part, we were screening European and American stories that dominated the minds of African audiences who couldn't see themselves in these films and whom therefore assumed that cinema could only tell other peoples' stories. FEPACI declared "cinema is not insignificant!" While you may associate it with a form of entertainment, it constitutes a representation of people and the stories their lives tell. African filmmakers felt the urgency to get together and speak to all stake-holders, the first of whom were African states and governments. FEPACI was very quickly accepted as an observer member by the Organization of African Unity [OUA], which undoubtedly strengthened its representation and legitimacy. This led to the establishment of all manner of dialogue regarding the political, budgetary, and technical support needed for the achievement of FESPACO's missions. In order to achieve its objectives, FEPACI prioritized vocational training, film production, distribution, and exhibition as well as the development of technical and cultural infrastructures of cinema (i.e. laboratories, auditoriums, cinema halls, cinémathèques, film schools, festivals, and

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