Reading

FESPACO: A West Afro Caribbean Film Festival

Previous Story
Article Image

BMOREART’S PICKS: BALTIMORE ART OPENINGS, GALLERI [...]

Next Story
Article Image

Art, Motherhood, and Full Communion

Nilewater Multimedia FESPACO West Afro Caribbean Film Festival at Motor House by Angela N. Carroll

On Friday March 25th, Nilewater Multimedia, a multimedia company representing Africa and the African Diaspora, will present the second installment of its stellar series, FESPACO West Film Series. The series premiered a stirring collection of Afro-Brazilian films earlier this year. The upcoming series will debut films produced in the last five years from Afro-Caribbean directors.

FESPACO West is a series of media exhibitions in promotion of the internationally renowned film festival, The Pan African Film Festival of Ouagadougou, commonly known as FESPACO, the largest festival and market for continental African cinema. Founded in 1969, nine years after gaining independence from French colonial rule, the festival was developed to celebrate and promote films created by and about continental Africans. Similar to Tribeca, Sundance, or Cannes, the biannual festival features thought-provoking feature lengths, shorts and documentary films from legendary directors like Ousmane Sembene, Haile Gerima, Alain Gomis, Andrew Dosunmu and others whose lens illuminates nuanced perspectives about African experiences. 2019 will mark FESPACO’s 50th Anniversary.

Nilewater Multimedia began the FESPACO West series to facilitate a cross cultural exchange between the festival in Burkina Faso and transplanted African Diasporic communities in urban centers across the United States. Founder of Nilewater Multimedia, Omar Akbar describes the initiative as a “mechanism to sustain black consciousness on a global scale.”

“I work with [the] Burkina Faso government to expand FESPACO to the diaspora in the western hemisphere. [This] is the first time they will allow non continental people to submit to the festival,” he shared during a brief interview.

FESPACO West aspires to be a sustainable bridge between Burkina Faso, other African countries and US cities with dense African diasporic populations like Baltimore, Washington D.C., Virginia, New York and Los Angeles.

“It’s about the work,” Akbar continues, “the guiding principles that drive the work, [and] an opportunity for Black filmmakers from the Western Hemisphere to participate in [FESPACO] 2019.” The Caribbean installment of FESPACO West will premiere seven short films produced in the last five years from Haiti, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Martinique, Barbados, and Curacao.

Through the company’s partnership with the Burkina Faso Embassy, they plan to organize more screenings and study abroad opportunities for African cinephiles based in the West. “We are working to increase visibility. Most [African Americans] are unaware of FESPACO and its significance. Nilewater Multimedia keeps community in mind, to sustain principles of Black Consciousness, Black Collectivism, and Pan-Africanism through multimedia. We have a great network of people who recognize that throughout the continent and the African diaspora.”

Nilewater Multimedia FESPACO West Afro Caribbean Film Festival at Motor House May 25 at 7:30 pm


Visit https://motorhousebaltimore.com/events/ , Ankh Ba Records & Nilewater Multimedia on Facebook, @nilewater777 on Instagram for more information about the FESPACO West Film Festival.

Related Stories
Congrats to Hellen Ascoli, Amy Boone-McCreesh, and Sam Mack

Three Sondheim Finalists Will Exhibit at The Walters Art Museum Before the $30,000 Prize is Awarded

The Current Exhibit at BmoreArt's C+C Space is the First of Three Based on Our City of Artists Book

City of Artists, BmoreArt's first full-length book, sold out in December, but is now available through a second printing

The best weekly art openings, events, and calls for entry happening in Baltimore and surrounding areas.

This Week:  I don’t dream of labor exhibition ongoing at the Galleries at CCBC, Visiting Voices: Supporting Disabled Artist-Educators and Learners lecture at MICA's Hurwitz Center, Womxn of the World Poetry Slam at the Baltimore War Memorial, Trans Day of Visibility at Red Emma's, and more!

Exhibits featuring Rebecca Strzelec, Rebecca Marimutu, Rosa Leff, and Kelly Walker

Rebecca Marimutu’s "Portraits (Contact),"  Rebecca Strzelec’s "365 Grams," and Rosa Leff and Kelly Walker’s "A Fine Pairing"—at Goucher College, Baltimore Jewelry Center, and Creative Alliance, respectively—made me reflect on my relationship to myself, womanhood, and the women who shaped me.