The cinema of
Burkina Faso is an important part of the history of the post-colonial
West African and
African film industry. Burkina's contribution to
African cinema started with the establishment of the film festival
FESPACO (Festival Panafricain du Cinéma et de la Télévision de Ouagadougou), which was launched as a film week in 1969 and gained government support and permanent structures in 1972. It is the largest film exhibition venue in sub-Saharan Africa, with more than half a million attendees, and takes place in odd numbered years in March. Burkina is also one of the countries producing the most feature films in Africa. Many of the nation's filmmakers are known internationally and have won international prizes. For many years the headquarters of the
Federation of Panafrican Filmmakers (FEPACI) was in
Ouagadougou, rescued in 1983 from a period of moribund inactivity by the enthusiastic support and funding of President
Thomas Sankara. In 2006 the Secretariat of FEPACI moved to South Africa but the headquarters of the organization is still in Ouagaoudougou. Between 1977 and 1987 Burkina Faso housed a regional film school,
Institut d'Education Cinématographique de Ouagadougou (INAFEC), which was instigated by FEPACI and funded in part by
UNESCO. But eighty percent of its funding came from the government of Burkina Faso; no other African country participated in its funding and few sent students. ==Today's cinema==