Africa's largest film festival kicks off in Burkina Faso

Africa’s largest film festival is kicking off in Burkina Faso for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso -- Africa's largest film festival kicks off Saturday in Burkina Faso amid both the COVID-19 pandemic and a growing jihadi insurgency in the West African nation that has killed thousands of people and displaced more than 1 million in recent years.

Alex Moussa Sawadogo, head of the Pan-African Film and TV Festival of Ouagadougou said organizers wanted to go ahead with the event known by its French acronym, FESPACO in spite of the challenges to show Burkina Faso can still “inspire imagination through cinema.”

"This event will be a FESPACO of resistance because it is taking place under harsh security and health conditions,” he told The Associated Press in an interview in the capital, Ouagadougou.

Sawadogo said the number of venues has been reduced this year.