Editor

PAUL ROBESON AWARD INITIATIVE
FESPACO 2005

FESPACO, the Pan-African film and television festival, is the biggest,
regular cultural event on the continent with thousands expected to attend this year.

Thanks to efforts of a few serious film enthusiasts, FESPACO was founded in 1969 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, West Africa.
Due to the admiration and hope that FESPACO inspired amongst the people of Burkina Faso and Black filmmakers from Africa and the African Diaspora, the festival became an institution by governmental decree, on January 7th, 1972.

FESPACO is now the premiere film and television festival for African cinema.

FESPACO festivals convene, every odd year, beginning on the last Saturday in February. The next FESPACO festival convenes February 26 thru March 5, 2005 .

THE FESPACO MISSION

The mission of FESPACO is to:
facilitate the screening of all African films.
enable contacts and exchanges among film and television professionals.
contribute to the expansion and development of African cinema as a means of expression, education and consciousness raising.

Next year hundreds of films, and television and video productions will be featured. But, the festival is not just a showcase for new films; it provides an opportunity for hundreds of directors, producers, distributors and actors to meet up, do deals in private, and debate in public. Festivities of FESPACO 2005 are scheduled for February 26, through March 5, 2005.

FESPACO: PAUL ROBESON AWARD INITIATIVE COMMITTEE presents the best of the
best diasporic films to the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of
Ouagadougou, more commonly known as FESPACO. Our purpose is to enable the timely processing of submissions for inclusion and consideration of the FESPACO: PAUL ROBESON AWARD. The objective is to assist Burkina Faso's efforts to make FESPACO the "Academy Awards" for all African films.