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| From FESPACO |
OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO—FESPACO, the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou, takes place every two years and gives film makers from the continent a chance to showcase their films. This year was the 40th anninversary. I traveled there with 4 friends.
We saw about 6 full length films and about 15 short films and documentaries at about 4 different theaters. Some were good and some lackluster. It was easy to see which areas of the continent have money available for film makers by the number of entries, with things being weighted toward North African countries and South Africa. My favorite film was Teza which won the top prize, the Stallion of Yennenga. I’m no film critic, so I want try to bore you with my opinion, but if you get a chance to see it, I’d recommend it.
Equally important as the films, was the food and drink. Avocado sandwiches, pork (!), tapas bars, good street food, plantains, more than one beer, and juices and wines made of crazy delicious local fare. If we batted about .300 on watching good films, we batted about .800 on food.
One of my favorite parts about Ouaga is the fact that there are so many cyclists. They even have bike lanes for bikes and motorcycles. It made me shed a tear for my bike in Maradi—Oh, how I miss thee!
We finished out the week, having only learned a few words in the dominant language of Burkina, Mouré. No one seemed to want to help us out. They were perfectly content listening to our French—my broken French. But we were able to find a few people that spoke some Hausa and Zarma, which made us feel like we were home.
Although it's been nice getting back to Niger, I hope to get back to Ouaga some day—a great little city with a whole mess of potential.
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To read Jeremy’s account of Ouaga and other recent events look no further than here. For pictures of our trip look here. Have a nice day. You enjoy your snow and I’ll enjoy my 100 degree dustiness.
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Also, just added a new feature to allow easy feedback. There should be 3 buttons under each post—thumbs up, indifferent, thumbs down. I’ve forgotten what is interesting, so this will help me post more things you’d like to read. I hope it works. Thanks.
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Heading back out to the bush tomorrow (Friday) morning.
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You'll only ever get "thumbs up" from me, William...it's all fascinating. Thanks for writing.
ReplyDeleteEven though we speak on the phone quite often, I do enjoy reading about what you are doing. You know my processing skills are not what they used to be, so I always go back and re-read. Each time I discover a little more information than the time before.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you all were able to make the trip and have a little vacation time also.
It did my heart good to see you in a picture.
Love,
Mom
i'm with your mom: its always good to see your face in a picture. you're as bad as Jackie and me. always photographing others, never ourselves.
ReplyDeletebest of luck back out in the bush. it was good gchatting with you while you were able.